<p>A touching story to take to heart!</p>
<p>For students interested in exploring diversity issues at independent schools further, you may want to consider attending the NAIS Student Diversity annual conference. Nearly all BS send representatives and it’s open to students of all backgrounds. My son’s school has already begun the prep work for the conference so if this sounds like something you may enjoy, reach out to contacts/representatives at your school. (Besides, you’ll be the envy of the dorm as you take in sunny San Diego while others are digging out last year’s Uggs and coping with unexpected snowstorms.)</p>
<p>[2010</a> People of Color Conference](<a href=“http://www.nais.org/pocc/pocc.cfm?ItemNumber=152823]2010”>http://www.nais.org/pocc/pocc.cfm?ItemNumber=152823)</p>
<p>Walking the campus at my son’s school, you cannot tell who is affluent and who is not. My son feels the same way. One of the reasons he loves his bs so much is the acceptance of diversity…not cliquey like his public school (where there was really no diversity except for that of class and popularity).</p>
<p>The funny thing is that people tend to see diversity only in terms of URMs and people of lower socio-economic status. That’s certainly important, but for those in the middle class such as my daughter being exposed to kids of privilege as well as those of deprivation or lower social status comprised the full diversity picture. </p>
<p>We live in an overwhelmingly homogeneous white, middle class town. It’s a fine place that sometimes shows up on the “great places to raise kids” type lists, but the lack of diversity in many dimensions is striking. Going to prep school my daughter not only met and befriended kids of an incredible array of racial and ethnic backgrounds, but also socio-economic. Among her friends and acquaintances were children of national political and economic leaders as well as those doing manual labor. Some could have bought and sold me (figuratively, not literally), while others might be mowing my lawn. While it would be naive not to recognize that at even the most diverse of boarding schools the majority of kids are full pay (versus 10% or so on full scholarship) and caucasian, the student spectrum is still far broader than in our suburban town. Going to BS exposed her both to opportunity and need - and the ways in which education can become the great equalizer across generations.</p>
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<p>Many towns in America are more diverse than the town you are in. Zillions of public schools are way more diverse than BS (where you say majority are FP and white). It may be true to your town, but it won’t apply to many towns and cities like Danbury.</p>
<p>I don’t want to make this into a public versus boarding school debate (particularly since I’m the son of two retired public school teachers and a big supporter of public education - including magnet schools and student exchanges with the adjacent, poor, overwhelmingly minority city), but zillions? Really? Danbury schools are undoubtedly more diverse in many respects, albeit within a narrower socio-economic range. How about nearby towns (assuming you were referring to Danbury, CT) such as Bethel, Newtown, Ridgefield, New Fairfield, Brewster, South Salem, Wilton, New Canaan, New Milford, etc.? For that matter how about virtually all of Litchfield County? Of course there are many, many public schools more diverse than any boarding school. However, a significant percentage of public schools don’t exactly represent a cross-section of American society. I can say with certainty that through large swaths of our country the schools are quite homogeneous and less diverse on one or more racial, ethnic and socio-economic dimensions than my daughter’s boarding school.</p>
<p>I should note for the sake of full disclosure that we are a multi-racial family. I am white and my wife is African-American/Native American. In fact, she and her brother were the first “black” children to attend “the white school” in a rural Mississippi school district in the 60s. It was sufficiently dangerous that my father-in-law slept with a gun under his pillow. So we are well aware of the tremendous advances we’ve made in integrating our society (e.g. before he died almost 25 years later that same man was honored by the town’s PTA), but that doesn’t change the fact that many children are still exposed to only a small subset of the melting pot in their schools.</p>
<p>P.S. I don’t know the make-up of the public schools, but the city of Danbury is 76% white, so if skin pigment is the measure of community diversity it is actually far less diverse than her boarding school. Adjacent communities have even larger majority Caucasian populations.</p>
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Might the “majority” have caused confusion? Even 51% would be majority.</p>
<p>Bravo Exie, Bravo!</p>
<p>Most towns are Homogenous, especially Upper Middle Class and Wealthy towns by virtue of the cost to live there. This impacts diversity greatly in their Public Schools which is really a self reinforcing shrinking bubble. Many Wealthy Communities that have Prep Schools are urged by the Parent body to increase Diversity and even contribute large dollars specifically for recruitment of individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds. We don’t want our children not exposed to people of color depending on the media to define them for our kids. </p>
<p>This is a Global Economy and those that are not comfortable with an array of people are going to be lost. My D had an African American girl in her school that was an academic & sports powerhouse and everyone admired this young lady. She was very articulate, mature and has a wonderful personality. No one will ever be able to sell my daughter a bunch of stereotypes about African Americans because of the lasting impression that this young scholar made on students, Teachers and Parents. She also was accepted to seven Top Tier Boarding Schools and no one was surprised or attributed it to affirmative action, she earned and deserved every acceptance she received and will bring a lot to the school she eventually selected. Her reputation was that she outworked everybody at our very Prestigious and wealthy Prep School. She was a coveted target for the most rigorous, wealthy and reputable Boarding Schools.</p>
<p>Ignorance is bliss!</p>
<p>To explore diversity of schools around the US, I offer you this New York Times article</p>
<p>[Diversity</a> in the Classroom - The New York Times](<a href=“http://projects.nytimes.com/immigration/enrollment]Diversity”>Diversity in the Classroom - The New York Times)
[Interactive</a> Map Showing Immigration Data Since 1880 - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Interactive Map Showing Immigration Data Since 1880 - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com”>Interactive Map Showing Immigration Data Since 1880 - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com)</p>