Coping with the socio-economic divide between kids

[GMTplus7]

<p>A relevant article from the NYT about socio-economic disparity at elite prep schools:
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/nyregion/for-minority-students-at-elite-new-york-private-schools-admittance-doesnt-bring-acceptance.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/nyregion/for-minority-students-at-elite-new-york-private-schools-admittance-doesnt-bring-acceptance.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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…Ayinde Alleyne …son of immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago, a teacher and an auto-body repairman, in the South Bronx… He was soon overwhelmed by the privilege he saw. Talk of fancy vacations and weekends in the Hamptons rankled — “I couldn’t handle that at that stage of my life,” said Mr. Alleyne

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Students report feeling estranged, studying among peers who often lack any awareness about their socioeconomic status and the differences it entails. They describe a racism that materializes not in insults, but more often in polite indifference, silence and segregation.

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STEVEN J. NELSON, the head of Calhoun, said that there were certain inevitable realities for minority families at the school: At some point, one parent will be mistaken for a nanny or a service worker. African-American boys will be frisked by the police, or followed inside a store.

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