Social life?

nyc
Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:15:50 +0000

I’m all for diversity, but having same-race friends in that circle is also important. I wouldn’t want most of D’s interactions to HAVE to be out of race b/c of the limited number of black students on campus.

And then there are the related, ancillary issues: in remote, predominately white communites, where do girls get their hair done; and since most dating is in-race are there boys for them to date (shortage of boys is even more dramatic among black college students). This has been the source of much discussion on the black parents’ thread. [Also, I doubt that at schools w/ more diversity “they’re all segregated” any more than all the students at Muhlenberg are preppy, J. Crew types ]

Finally, despite the fact that the black students do not self-segregate, it appears that it is easy for white students to pass through w/o interacting with blacks students (see post #12). And, fyi, many of the black parents posting on these boards have kids who have had plenty of diverse experiences prior to college; quite a few of our kids have attended predominately white schools - - be they rigorous public schools, private day schools or elite prep schools. One mother on the black parents’ thread noted that after having been the only black child for many years, college was her D’s first opportunity to have a circle of black friends at school. So what no doubt appeared to an on-looker as limiting self-segregation was, for her D, as much of a new social experience as interacting with minority students might be for white students.