Despite its deep roots and widespread impact on society, white privilege rarely surfaces as a topic in schools. However, as reported recently by Technician, the PTA at Hunter Elementary School in Raleigh has initiated a program to discuss the topics of race and privilege with parents and children by sending home a series of informational letters. The program has faced widespread attack by speakers on the right, including radio host Rush Limbaugh, according to the News and Observer.
Many of these attacks are misleading. For instance, the effort is run entirely by the PTA and is not incorporated into the classroom curriculum. The documents are sent home with the children in weekly folders, and are intended for parents, who are free to opt out of the program at any time.
Regardless, many commentators argue that elementary school is too early in a child’s life to begin discussing issues of race and privilege. In reality, this discussion may not be happening soon enough. A study in 2012 from the journal Child Development notes in its introduction that “Preschool children were selected because research suggests that racial bias emerges between the ages of 3 and 5.” As most children enter elementary school at age 5, it’s absolutely crucial to start addressing these matters early on.
The study examined how white parents, specifically mothers, interacted with their children about the subject of race. It found that while European American parents tend to demonstrate so-called “colorblind” ideologies, this ideology does not transfer to their children, as the children on average had a slight, but statistically significant, bias in favor of European Americans.
Research like this highlights the need for actively engaging with notions of race and privilege in order to undermine existing racial biases. The study asked the participants how much they discussed these concepts with their children, as well as observing their interaction while reading books that implicitly discussed racial themes, and found that parents largely did not refer to the race of the characters or otherwise engage in this material.
Beyond the fact that this is a local school being criticized, this issue should hit home for students at NC State as well. Despite the fact that North Carolina is 22 percent African American and Raleigh is 29 percent, only 6 percent of the spring 2018 student body at the university is black.
Our state deserves better than having a quarter of its residents underrepresented in public institutions, and identifying aspects of our society that disadvantage people of color is a crucial task for all citizens, but especially us as the newest generation of adults. More to the point though, white people need to take into consideration all the ways in which being white makes our lives vastly easier.
Whether it’s not being arrested for going to Starbucks or not being shot by police, being white in America confers innumerable benefits. Not actively recognizing them not only blinds us to the reality of institutional racism in our society: it also prevents us from correcting the record for future generations and eradicating racial bias in our children before it begins.
Elevating minority voices to comment on the injustices present in society is a crucial step towards fighting for equality. Similarly necessary is a frank discussion among white people about what equality means in terms of losing out on advantages that we’ve historically held.
College is among the first times where students can meet people from across the state, country and world. Students successfully adapting to this diversity and growing as people should be a top priority for the university and for ourselves. Administration can support this effort by addressing issues of bias and structural advantage during orientation, but it ultimately comes down to us as individuals to learn more about how society treats different groups.
The PTA at Hunter Elementary, where only 40 percent of the students are white, is leading the charge for inclusivity in a diverse society. Let’s commend their efforts to fight racial bias at its early stages and ensure that we follow suit in having real discussions about race with the entire NC State community.
