Segregating Third-graders into Racial Affinity Groups Is a Bad Idea
Click here to watch my Fox and Friends’ Interview. New York City’s Fieldston Lower School is instituting an experimental program that divides students into groups based on race. They say it is for the purpose of teaching the children how to discuss race and ethnicity within their ethnic group as well as outside the group. While I support discussion in almost any way, shape or form, I believe the segregated discussion sessions are a bad idea because they run counter to the goal of ending racism.
Emphasizing racial group identity at such a young age could worsen race relations within the school. It could also impact some of these children later in life. A lot depends on the facilitators and their respective values and goals. Will these facilitators be balanced in their discussions of race, or will the conversations be steeped in political correctness? A facilitator with a chip on his or her shoulder could persuade minority students to see themselves as victims of white racism rather than as capable, self-directed individuals.
On top of all that, what will the white children at Fieldston learn about racism? Will they learn white guilt and shame? Will all this be discussed with them objectively? Given what I have witnessed on university campuses over the past twenty-five years, I shudder to think of the impact these discussions could have on impressionable young minds.
