African-americans self segregating at BS

ExieMITAlum
Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:36:35 +0000

Yep - safety in numbers.

That, and boarding school is often the first exposure many minority kids have to “other” cultures. But it is also the first exposure those other cultures have to minorities. So the kids get hit with a lot of assumptions and stereotypes and sometimes segregate to avoid it.

My daughter got told often how “cool it must be to be black.” She said yes if she didn’t have to spend 99% of her time convincing them she wasn’t one of the Flavor of Love girls.

It’s better now - but the initial adjustments while the kids feel each other out is pretty rough. I just had to sit on my hands while the situation reached equilibrium. She’s laughing and giddy and has a pretty big posse now. Which is ideal for boarding school kids – when they stop seeing color and just start seeing the person beneath it.