Who's Responsible For Teaching?

If I have a dime every time I hear a white parent say how they love for their kids to attend an ethnically diverse school , I would have enough to buy me a nice fancy meal at some upscale Italian-Russian fusion restaurant. Maybe even enough for some snooty desert. It's like the IT thing to enroll your kids in a poor neighborhood school and be one of three white kids in the class.

WTF? When did children of color become a school feature? They talk about minority kids like it's a hotel with a pool. Crossing the color line is great, but at some point during your school selection process, the "high minority ratio" factor and having ethnic friends get objectified as an accessory to your children’s education.

"Oh, it'll be great. Ghetto Elementary has a strong arts program and the playground is newly donated by Bill Gates. Best of all, the school is so diverse. My child will get to just soak up all that culture."

Get over it, our kids are not an amenity you pay extra for. I know you mean well, you are trying to culture your kids because the only POC your life has ever encounter was that one Korean family you met at a wedding and you had a 5 minute conversation with. Do me a favor, at least talk to your kid about race and inequality before you send them to the school. You see, as a white you have the luxury (see white privilege) of not talking about race and racism because you don’t want to introduce the ugly idea to your precious little one.

Please don’t leave it to our kids to teach your kids. Don’t put that burden on our children. We are not responsible for your ignorance. I have a sneaky feeling that some white families don't feel comfortable or equipped to talk about racial inequalities with their kids. They default and leave it to somebody else more qualified to handle the teaching. Similar to sex education, the conversation should start at home and continue as a public dialogue. Minority kids are already swimming against the social current, and then to have to shoulder the responsibility of teaching acceptance and tolerance is unfair. Lessons on racism should not come at the expense of minority kids.