would you send your caucasian child to an all african american school? - Page 7

[De-lovely]

Originally Posted by gethane

Except, change often starts with one person. If NO one ever steps outside their comfort zone, then change just doesn't happen.

I'm not saying sacrifice your children on an idealistic political altar, but there must be a middle ground somewhere here.

Thats what I was babbling about before....learning where to draw my own line? I cant say I could at this point reach any conclusion....

BTW totally OT but I miss your dipes STILL and LOVE your "5"..... :

[gethane]

Originally Posted by De-lovely

BTW totally OT but I miss your dipes STILL and LOVE your "5"..... :

[meowee]

Originally Posted by Aura_Kitten

I am NOT trying to say that race causes these problems - only that these areas tend to be poor and have social problems, which have a whole slew of other social factors contributing to it all.

I don't want to hijack the thread but, it might be helpful to look at all of the surrounding issues instead of coming to the conclusion that it's all about race. It's not. And it's not just poverty, but also lack of jobs (due to Deindustrialization)... drug use... lack of social support networks (no health care, no affordable housing, no child care)... institutionalized racism (AA's not getting jobs because the White employers won't hire them)...

What I'm trying to get at is that people have the conception that AA schools are impoverished and filled with behavior problems because generally, statistically, they are.

I know I've already said this a lot, but I stated upfront that this school in question has excellently behaved students. This is why I am surprised the thread took a turn towards the statistics you cite since the poll is about the school "described below."

I would not expect anyone to send their child to a school with serious behavioral problems and I think homeschool would be better any day than having to go to a rough school.

As far as the social isolation-- yes I am worried about this-- but I think it places little faith in the AA kids to assume they will poorly treat or ostracize my child. I think generally reverse racism is less common than "regular" racism though certainly reverse racism does exist.

Another concern I have is that my children might experience reverse racism from the faculty, i.e. they will worry about it looking like they are favoring the white children so they might always put them second. But I am only slightly concerned about this.

[Missy]

Originally Posted by meowee

The staff is all white, btw.

This concerns me far more than the idea of a white child being the only white student in the school. How do you have a school that is at least 99% black and have no. black. teachers. As the parent of children of color, that would make me hesitate more than anything else.

[purplegirl]

Originally Posted by Missy

This concerns me far more than the idea of a white child being the only white student in the school. How do you have a school that is at least 99% black and have no. black. teachers. As the parent of children of color, that would make me hesitate more than anything else.

I missed that but you're right. I wonder how/why that happened?

[De-lovely]

Originally Posted by purplegirl

I missed that but you're right. I wonder how/why that happened?

Oooh I missed that too....thats another issue in itself IMO....

[thismama]

Originally Posted by purplegirl

It's not likely to change anything. I don't have a problem with people making choices based on what they think is best for their children or their lives. I do have a problem with people responding as if being in a school that is largely black and acting as if it a sentence of death. I want the best for my child too but I won't avoid situations because of the racial make-up. I don't think that all black automatically=all bad. I might not be addressing the op's question but some of the responses were pretty insensitive.

Yes ITA that some of the responses were definitely insensitive. I hope mine was not among them. For me, if my child would be socially accepted, I would be very happy to put them in a school where they were the only white student.

I think we also got race and class issues convoluted.

[menudo]

In these cases, alot of people cannot see the difference between race and class. Black=poor (Albeit if wealthy one parent MUST'VE worked there way up out the hood or played pro sports). White=money. Somewhere there MUST be money. And power.

I had a chance to possibly buy and move to a completely renovated home (well possibly) recently. A yard, hardwood floors, garage BUT it is in a city that is known for several things:

1) poorest in the nation

2) most violent

3) EXTREMELY corrupt government

Yeah, even 20/20 did an hour long special on it. And it is just 10 minutes from the suburban middle class neighborhhod we are trapped in now. Which I admit, has awesome schools. But this neighborhood IS on the up and up and I wanted in. Unfortunately, I would not send my kids to the schools there. Corrupt. I know a few who teach there and they have little hope left. With 2 kids in special ed and no money for private school and homeschooling no option-I had to stay WHERE I HATE, based on schools ALONE. And I wanted the home-BAD. No doubt in 10 years it'll be a "good" neighborhood too. But race was never an issue.

[meowee]

Originally Posted by Missy

This concerns me far more than the idea of a white child being the only white student in the school. How do you have a school that is at least 99% black and have no. black. teachers. As the parent of children of color, that would make me hesitate more than anything else.

I know, I found that very strange! I didn't see every teacher but the ones I saw were white.

[mpeel]

I would not here because the racism is so bad that I would expect my daughters to be bullied beyond belief. Also, as a girl, I would fear for her in other ways. It doesn't matter how caring the teachers are when the students, while maybe not behaviorally bad, would not be caring towards my children.

[bczmama]

"One day a couple of upper class looking white kids showed up in our yard. It was the oddest sight and I had no idea where they had come from. Anyway, my son was overjubilant toward them as he is with everyone else, trying to convince them to join some imaginative game. They looked at him with such disdain. It was as if they didn't know how to just "play". I imagined them so used to so many "things" that they couldn't get it. "

Okay this cracks me up. Were the kids carrying little louis vuitton bags, and talking on their new I-phones? What marked them as "upper-class"? And would you have assumed they were "upper-class" if they had been black and dressed the same way?

Maybe they were shy and found your son's "overjubilance" to be "overwhelming".

[menudo]

Also, as a girl, I would fear for her in other ways.

: Please explain. I really hope I am reading into this comment too much or misinterpretting it.

[EFmom]

I wouldn't send my kids there. Academic excellence is my main criteria for my dds' school. It is also important to me that there be a significant Asian population, as my children are Chinese, and it is important to me that they have other Asian kids in school with them.

[gethane]

Originally Posted by menudo

: Please explain. I really hope I am reading into this comment too much or misinterpretting it.

Yes, well, look at her location.

(See! I can stereotype too!)

[menudo]

I want to say again I made the MISTAKE of making diversity too high of a priority when choosing schools for DD. What I learned is if the school is not diverse, we can search for that elsewhere. Lack of diversity does not equal a bad school for a child (including one in a minority "group" at the school), just as diversity does not mean the school is good, open-minded, less racist, etc. Trust me. Having kids of the same race/culture/religion in a class/school does not automatically make it the best place for a child either!

We can find diversity in outside groups, activities, etc. if needed.

[rootzdawta]

Originally Posted by mpeel

I would not here because the racism is so bad that I would expect my daughters to be bullied beyond belief. Also, as a girl, I would fear for her in other ways. It doesn't matter how caring the teachers are when the students, while maybe not behaviorally bad, would not be caring towards my children.

I have been reading this thread without making any comments. I can't get into discussions about race on MDC but this comment by you, mpeel, has got to be one of the most disgusting things I have ever read on MDC by far. Bullying happens everywhere by all people not just people of color. And exactly what do you fear for because your child is a girl? Those animalistic Black people not being able to control themselves from pouncing when they see your lily White child? And why, please explain to me why, you would automatically assume that because people (PEOPLE) are Black, they would not be caring towards your children?

Purplegirl and Menudo, thank you for your comments.

FWIW, I love children--ALL children and I firmly believe that children learn best from modeling. If there is a real school community and all the adults in that community are modeling love, kindness, acceptance, a willingness to really learn about others, and genuine respect for all people and backgrounds . . . well, that is what the children learn and the proportion of white to black to latino to Asian starts to take a back seat to the fact that we are shockingly all PEOPLE.

[Nikki98]

Originally Posted by mpeel

I would not here because the racism is so bad that I would expect my daughters to be bullied beyond belief. Also, as a girl, I would fear for her in other ways. It doesn't matter how caring the teachers are when the students, while maybe not behaviorally bad, would not be caring towards my children.

Everytime I think I'm done posting in the thread, something else comes up. Please explain, if you don't mind. This way of thnking (in 2007) is really unbelievable-or am I just naive?

[De-lovely]

Originally Posted by rootzdawta

FWIW, I love children--ALL children and I firmly believe that children learn best from modeling. If there is a real school community and all the adults in that community are modeling love, kindness, acceptance, a willingness to really learn about others, and genuine respect for all people and backgrounds . . . well, that is what the children learn and the proportion of white to black to latino to Asian starts to take a back seat to the fact that we are shockingly all PEOPLE.

Thank you for this post. Well said....it has helped me in this moment see where I draw my own line in this sort of situation.


I will say also in a genuine question-how can an all white staff cultivate an environment of true learning when it comes to culture, differences etc of there is no true example shown? It cant ALWAYS be beneficial for white people to teach about liberation in Mexico or slavery in ths South.....maybe I am wrong....I really wanna find a ground and stand on it about this.

[purplegirl]

Originally Posted by mpeel

I would not here because the racism is so bad that I would expect my daughters to be bullied beyond belief. Also, as a girl, I would fear for her in other ways. It doesn't matter how caring the teachers are when the students, while maybe not behaviorally bad, would not be caring towards my children.

What the..........:

I really hope that you come back and explain this.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by mpeel

. Also, as a girl, I would fear for her in other ways.

Oh, my. I'm sorry you have such a low opinion of African american boys. I really wish there were some way to end this "black boys want to rape our white daughters" crap, but that would require people to stop being racist, which apparently is impossible.