Fake Multiculturalism in Modern Schools
I was quite interested in Gunnar Kaufman's elementary school experience because it rang true to what I feel like it's like to grow up in an upper-class, liberal school system. Gunnar's experience is that everyone around him is telling him that race does not matter, that his experience is no different than any other white kid in the school. But this goes against everything he experiences and how he feels all the time. To him, race is such an issue and his background is such an issue but his elementary tells him to pretend like they're not issues, which just confuses him. This is amplified by the fact that Ms. Cegeny (miscegeny) is so obviously satirical and aware of race that it seems to Gunnar like the system is absurd. When he goes to the "hood" the school he goes to is all Black and he's immediately treated worse by those in power around him, for example, the police officers. This school system reminded me a lot of my elementary experience, whi