I went to private schools, and in both the majority of kids were caucasian. I can honestly say the few Asian and Aboriginal kids there were in my school were not thought of as different.
An exception would be in high school, where we had many Asian exchange students, who usually stuck together. They weren’t teased or anything, though. But generally, race wasn’t an issue whatsoever.
It’s funny, I was listening to NPR on my way home discussing this exact issue. They were talking about a school in Birmingham - Parker - that before segregation, was able to teach their students pride and to want education. Listening to some of these men talk about their old high school was really amazing - they said that they were taught that they were better than others because they had to be. And many of these kids are successful today - I believe one was a state senator for Alabama (sorry, I wasn’t able to catch names).
A teacher from Parker made the comment that she thought segregation taught them the exact opposite - that they were the SAME as everyone else. So the need to be better than white students faded. She thought it did a true disservice to the black students. And I can see her point.
I guess it’s just a moral dilemma for our society today. I certainly want my (future) kids to experience other races and cultures. My high school was a suburban school, but we were still 50% caucasion, 25% black, about 15% Asian, and 10% Hispanic. So I was definitely exposed to other ideas and cultures. Several of my close friends were Vietnamese who’d moved from Vietnam as children, so one of my favorite things was to go over to their houses for meals and see their customs. I would certainly want my children to experience that.
Ava
Being the ONLY member of your ethnic group would be a trial I think.
My son is in a probably 85% hispanic school. He is one of about 3 or 4 white kids in the school. He is also the ONLY boy in his school, of really ugly bowl cuts, with long hair. His hair is long by his own choice, before everyone starts to whomp on me for that!
He has friends that are caucasian and friends who are hispanic. He is learning a smattering of Spanish and is a LOT more comfortable in a crowd of Spanish speaking persons than I ever will be… all in all a good thing.