<p>I don't know whether this applies to the African-American community, but I think some ethnic groups or religious groups or nationalities don't -- as a cultural matter -- seek out boarding school opportunities.</p>
<p>That might mean fewer prospects from an already minority population; practically eliminating the chances to establish proportionate representation. Then, if you have schools trying hard to compete for that highly self-selected pool, there isn't much to go around. And schools with the larger endowments that can basically use financial aid to draw deeper and deeper into that pool will come closest to showing proportional representation -- at the expense of the other schools being able to do so.</p>
<p>Then let's add in to that other factors that might make one school more appealing than another. One of those would surely be seeing a community that already has a significant number of people from your own ethnic group, meaning that it's likely that the "rich get richer."</p>
<p>It's difficult to look at a viewbook or even get the raw numbers and say that there's a problem. Now, for a parent or student who seeks out a truly diverse community, it's fair to say that "no matter how hard they're trying, the outcome is lacking and the demographics aren't a fit for us." But it's pretty harsh to look at the outcome and say that the school isn't doing enough or trying hard enough because its demographics are far below the proportional representation of a certain group in society-at-large. (I don't know if that was the point of the OP; I'm just warning against reading that sort of value judgment into the OP.)</p>
<p>A number of schools make a concerted effort to conduct outreach to groups of talented and gifted youth that are largely untapped or undertapped by boarding schools. I have no idea if Blair participates in any of these programs or not. But that's what I'd be interested in if I was looking at the equity of the process. And if I was an administrator at a school like Blair, I would be continually examining whether there are unintentional barriers or walls that make it harder for un- and under-tapped groups to choose my school. (Do students display Confederate flags? would be an obvious example, but there are far more subtle and unintentional signals that might warn off people that I'd try to actively seek out.)</p>
<p>I think it would be brutally difficult to find a school that has an endowment that fosters a quality experience and mirrors the demographics of the national population. We can cherry pick which ethnic groups and religions or nationalities that we wish to see well-represented, but by doing so we're also implicitly saying we're perfectly fine if -- for example -- Armenian-Americans are not represented at all. A school can be incredibly diverse even if it's not "as diverse" as others with respect to certain, selected demographics.</p>
<p>These are tough choices for a school as well as a parent/student searching for a school that will provide the right "fit." </p>
<p>Diversity can be created in many ways outside of the composition of the student body. The richness of the experience of being around others who hail from different backgrounds can be amazing in an environment where the demographics might not suggest it. A school that has few African-American students might foster that richness by creating a student-mentoring or tutoring program for disadvantaged and at-risk children in a nearby community. Or maybe that school is more actively in engaged in celebrating and welcoming its smaller ethnic community to be engaged and stay identified to their heritage than a school that has more students but expects them to fall in line with a WASP-ish "norm." </p>
<p>For example, a school that has many Latino-American students who make up the entire membership in the Latino student organization may not offer as diverse an experience as a school with far fewer Latino-American students where the club is very active and typically holds activities that most of the student body participates in.</p>
<p>In terms of what an incoming student/parent would want to know about diversity, demographics is just one question. Perhaps the first question. But regardless of how impressive (or unimpressive) the answer might be, the inquiry should continue if this is an important consideration:</p>
<p>a) How does the school go about creating and fostering diversity?</p>
<p>b) What efforts does the school make to ensure that the student-experience includes the richness of a culturally diverse global community?</p>
<p>c) What are the various minority ethnic/national/religious groups that are active on campus?</p>
<p>d) What activities at school tie into these groups?</p>
<p>e) How does the school create a welcoming environment for these groups?</p>
<p>f) What opportunities for participation and engagement exist for students who come from "outside" of these groups?</p>
<p>And these sorts of questions, in the end, only give you a general notion of the statistical likelihood that your child's actual experience will be what is typical at the school. </p>
<p>You never know when or where opportunities will strike. In my case, the apartment I rented for grad school burned down a few weeks before school started. Campus housing was unavailable and I actually lived out of my car for 2 days and used the floor of other students -- all strangers -- for another week when a fellow student said he had a room I could sublet. He was one of the under 5% African-American students and I lived with him in large complex where I was of 4 white people. In winter, it was so drafty we nailed blankets over the front door and windows and used only the rear door. And since I had the car that worked, I took him to his AME church on Sunday. Statistically speaking, diversity was not destined to be a component of my grad school experience. Fate dictated otherwise.</p>
<p>The final point is that if your child is truly open to embracing diversity, then it actually might be less important to look for large numbers. Your child's receptiveness to alternative backgrounds/cultures is the biggest factor that will determine whether s/he will seize those opportunities. Kids who want to avoid the 22% Aztec demographic at Cortes Academy for Boys will do so. Kids who wish to engage the 2% Latvian demographic at the Louie De Palma Finishing School will do so.</p>