DO YOU THINK DISCRIMINATION STILL LIES WITHIN SMALL COMMUNITIES?

I HAD TO RELOCATE BACK TO MY HOME TOWN IN IOWA THAT CONSISTS OF 400 PEOPLE AND AT THE TIME LAST YEAR I WENT HERE ON GREAT SCHOOLS TO COMPARE SCHOOLS, OVERALL THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL THAT IS IN THIS TOWN SCORED A 4 OUT OF 10 AND THE ETHENCITY WAS 100 WHITE.. MY CHILDREN ARE MIXED HALF BLACK AND WHITE AND I AM AFRAID OF ENROLLING THEM IN THIS SCHOOL BECAUSE OF DISCRIMINATION AND ALSO THE LOW SCORE RATING OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM ITSELF.. AM I BEING TOO CAUTIOUS? THE SCHOOL THAT I OPEN ENROLLED THEM LAST YR IS 11 MILES AWAY AND THEY THRIVED THERE, AND I SAW NOTHING BUT GREAT THINGS... BUT IT WOULD BE MORE CONVENIENT FOR ME IF I ENROLLED THEM HERE IN THE TOWN WE LIVE, BUT IM JUST SCARED THAT PEOPLES STUPIDITY IN SMALL COMMUNITIES WOULD RUIN THEIR SELF ESTEEM AND CHANCES TO GET A GOOD EDUCATION AND THRIVE IN ALL EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES.. PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR OPINION ON THIS MATTER.... THANKS

Parent Answers to "DO YOU THINK DISCRIMINATION STILL LIES WITHIN SMALL COMMUNITIES?"

View 4 answers: Newest-Oldest, Oldest-Newest
Display all answers

There are two different issues. You concerns low school score AND no minority population.
As minority myself (Asian), lack of diversity is conern but it is only secondary. If everything else looks good and this is best school except that point, I do not have problem put my kids in.
My kids went through almost 100% white population daycare and preschool, and never had problems and no discrimination.
For that age, kids are honest and very aware how they look, so they make comments about skin color, eye color, hair color, and so on, but this is not judgmental way, as long as you are not over-reacting. It also depends on your kids characters, my kids are very outgoing, and make friends easily. This make her popular and then ethnicity doesn't matter. Is kids get along with other neighborhood kids? They will be her schoolmate, so if they get along well, I would not worried about it.
But low performing school is totally different story. I would not put my kids to low performing school when I have other options. Do the research about the particular school, what parents say, and if possible visit the school - teachers, principles attitude tell you a lot..

You concern is right! I think discrimination exists everywhere even in the individual household.

With my experience, small communities are more open when they have a few African Americans or other group of people, but hostile when the population increases.. Have in mind that the same thing happens in other communities when they have increase number of new people.

As a parent, try to find other places to expose your children to people who look like them. These place may be church, barber shop, and others.

Good luck!

To be honest with you I think kids could careless about what a person looks like or what ethnicity he/she is. It 's the parents that you have to think about I believe recsim is a learned behavior. Kids don't know unless they are taught, so if you are worried about what the other kids will be like what are their parents like towards you and your kids.

Have you experienced a lot of racism in your home town? I don't think young children recognize that there are different colors of skin, so depending on your childrens' ages, racial discrimination may not exist at all.

I grew up in a large community that was 99.9% caucasian. When an Africian-American family moved into the school zone, it was nothing monumental- just another new family. In larger schools, kids are used to having families come and go.

I have found that small communities sometimes hesitate to welcome outsiders. I don't by any means intend to say that all small towns exclude others. What I mean is children who have been together since preschool or kindergarten might have a difficult time (at first) welcoming new kids who they don't know. If your children are outgoing, I'm sure they'll make friends easily. If your kids are on the quite side, extra curricular activities might be especially important in helping your children to get to know others. Good luck with your move!

Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of GreatSchools. GreatSchools does not check for accuracy in community posts or verify the contributor’s identity. If you are searching for health-related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Community Guidelines for more details.

Local Q&A

Top cities

Los Angeles	Phoenix
Houston	San Diego
Chicago	Dallas
San Jose	San Antonio
New York	Miami

Browse questions about

Local Q&A is brand new! What do you think? Give us your feedback in our feedback forum.