*According to a UCLA?s Civil Rights Project report, as of 2014 schools in New York City remain the most segregated schools of all. And here we were thinking such schools were in the south. Silly us. Anyway, the Department of Education is making moves to change that. They want to close the gap, lessen the divide, ensure that students who are on the low end of the education spectrum get the support they need to improve their chances at success. So they plan to ?give students who score below grade level priority access to 25 percent of seats at each of the district?s 18 middle schools starting with next year?s application process.
Sounds great right?
Not to the parents of children who have been enjoying a lifetime of privilege. Think: No melanin included. Not to say these same children are not worthy just because they have been provided the resources to make their lives easier. Not even to assume they are not busting their butts to keep those grades up. Just to acknowledge that their parents are making it clear they don’t want that privilege to be, how shall we say, “compromised” in any way.
At a meeting on the proposed DOE plan, these no-melanin parents didn’t hold back. They were mad as hell; throwing hypothesis and analogies around like birdseed.
Here’s an analogy, albeit a nonsensical one, from one white mother speaking on the desegregation plan.
?You?re talking about an 11-year-old, you worked your butt off, and you didn?t get that, what you needed or wanted. You?re telling them that you?re not going to go to a school that?s going to educate them the same way you?ve been educated. Life sucks!?
A middle school principal took offense at some of the parents’ responses and commented, directly to them:
?There are kids that are tremendously disadvantaged. And to compare these students and say, ?My already advantaged kid needs more advantage, they need to be kept away from those kids,? is tremendously offensive to me.?
Take a look at this tell-all video. What does privilege look like to you?Please feel free to share your thoughts.
