Editorial: Racial understanding starts at an early age

Yes, white privilege exists, and racial injustice continues. We, as a society, can combat this injustice by teaching young students to productively learn about each other’s own racial and class differences with an open mind. 

A growing number of New York City private schools emphasize inclusive racial and social diversity. According to The New York Times, private school diversity initiatives in the past were focused on helping minority students adjust to the majority white culture. 

Now, a growing initiative among New York private schools is to include white students as part of racial dialogue and understanding, teaching them the meaning and repercussions of their privilege. Classes involve all students, and are aimed at developing understanding between all groups. For instance, students discuss identity, priviledge and power in today’s world. 

Additionally, white students at New York private schools have started white affinity groups through which they tackle issues of white privilege, often in all-white settings. These groups deviate from a tradition of white student reliance on their minority peers to teach them about minority struggles. 

Today’s students cannot control the past, but they can help shape the future. White students should learn the realities of white privilege, but guilt should not drive the lesson plans. 

Instead, teachers should focus on building bridges between culture and race in schools. As education consultant Derrick Gay notes in The New York Times, “raising students to live in a bubble — a white bubble, a black bubble, a Latino bubble, whatever type of bubble you want to call it — is not to your benefit in a global society.” 

Discourse can openly flourish when fostered by schools. In the age of loosening LBGTQ barriers and #BlackLivesMatter marches, young students approach situations with more malleable mindsets than older generations might. Teachers can play a key role in shaping a more open and just society in which harmony, rather than hostility, transcends racial lines.

A specific way for students to recognize racial and cultural understanding is to apply history to current events on a regular basis. Students can learn about the Underground Railroad, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, but what can students really take away from such lessons if they don’t apply past progress to the present? 

Students of all races must understand that struggles continue, but progress can and must also continue.

Racial discourse cannot end in the classroom or editorial section. We must continue the dialogue, but resentment and cynicism do not belong in elementary classrooms. With positive and productive race discussions beginning early on in education, we can continue to make progress in racial and cultural understanding, therefore achieving true racial acceptance not only in our classrooms, but in our society as a whole.