A2PNotes: Ann Arbor is home to some 16,000 public school students, and approximately 1,700 students who attend the city’s various private schools. Those students are parented by tens of thousands of women and men who haven’t a clue about what their kids really do at school all day, not because they don’t want to know. Quite the opposite, most parents of school-age children want to know what happens in the classroom, the lunch room and on the bus. Elementary school parents are hectored into helping out at school; expected to be involved. However, middle and high school are quite different. Parents become personae non gratae not only in the eyes of kids who are trying to become more independent, but in the eyes of a schools that don’t provide many opportunities for parent classroom involvement in the upper grades. So, A2Politico has asked two kids to write about their lives as students. One of these students attends the AAPS, and the other attends a local private school. For obvious reasons, these two will write their entries anonymously. So, look for A Descent Into the Maelström weekly, and read about what your kids wouldn’t tell you even if you asked.

There is racism in my private school. Even though it might not be appearant to someone who is new to the school or visiting, it’s something that becomes clear when you’re a student. It’s hidden from those who visit, because kids of different races co-mingle. They spend time together; there are inter-racial friendships. The teachers and the students, the whole community really discourages racism and racist comments and jokes. However, that’s on the surface.

It becomes clear that the sensitivity towards racial minorities is on the surface at my private school when you see how white kids behave when they are out of earshot of the teachers, and peers who are sensitive or active in Diversity Club. Diversity Club is a group that plans days for educating students about diversity. The group holds fund-raisers to bring in speakers who talk about topics such as the Holocaust, Hispanic heritage, and immigration. There are also groups for African Americans, Asians and Hispanic students.

The Diversity Club is, at the moment, only girls. White girls. Latina girls. Asian girls. Black girls. And Middle Eastern girls. Why is the Diversity Club populated by girls? Girls care about clubs, and in this club I’d say the majority of the members also care about diversity. However, this majority who care about diversity constitute a minority in the larger student body.

Why is that? Perhaps because whites are the majority at my school, and they aren’t impacted by racist jokes because they not the butt of the jokes. I hear jokes regularly that make fun of Asians and blacks. Much of the time the jokes focus on mimickry. In my language class, my teacher has an accent. This kid in my class reads materials in an exaggerated accent that makes fun of the teacher’s accent and the teacher’s racial group. I’m not sure the teacher understands the mocking tone, but she laughs along with it and so do many of the students. I laugh, too. I shouldn’t be laughing, but because everyone else is, including the teacher, it gives me permission to laugh. It’s easy to convince yourself that laughing at racial jokes is okay, especially when others are doing it.

Under the surface is the shark of privilege.

We white students have the privilege of making the jokes and laughing at the jokes. The minorities are given the privilege of being the object of the jokes. I’ve seen minorities laugh at racist jokes. That doesn’t mean they find it funny. It perhaps means they don’t feel like they can stand up against the majority. My friend, who is Hispanic, is an exception. This individual never laughs or lets pass a racist joke. This person is actually pretty popular, and I think it’s because this individual is popular that racist jokes are no laughing matter.

The fact that there is racism at my school, the fact that I am not completely absorbing the efforts of my teachers, events, and speakers who address racism, makes me feel that my private school needs to do more to make the student body more diverse. I think this would help balance out the white privilege that I feel and take advantage of on a regular basis. I don’t think numbers lead to equality, but I think increased diversity makes a difference. Obviously, there’s more of a chance that if someone is making a joke, there would be more people around who might say something.

The school officials try to educate us about diversity, but the efforts are ineffective after a certain point. The first time the program is interesting, the second time a little less so, and by the third I’m zoned out. I’m not listening to the speaker talk about the impact of racism. I’m thinking about the snack I’m going to have when I get home. In the classroom, there are many lessons about racism in the books we read. For example, we’re about to start a book by a black author and this means we’ll have those discussions—the ones that center on racism and its impact on the characters in the book, and in society. These discussions don’t work either. The class discussions are always about the characters in the book and society as a whole, but not about our school community.

Repetition doesn’t work.

What is ultimately going to help the kids change is when they develop relationships with kids who are of different racial groups.  This gets back to my idea that my private school needs to increase racial diversity. The problem, however, is money. On the one hand, money is associated with white privilege. On the other hand, lack of scholarship money keeps many minority students from enrolling in the school.

If the classroom discussions were focused on our school community, I think more white students would see and acknowledge what is going on at our own school. Since the discussions are abstract as opposed to concrete the students’ thoughts are abstract, as well. We’re not looking at it as an issue specific to our school community. Honestly, writing this is making me realize that students at my school, including me, have little idea of the impact of our words on the minority students, and on the overall atmosphere in our school community.

Can I change myself, my own attitudes or behaviors? I’m honestly not sure.