It's a Small World

Most of my classes are little representations of the planet. The diversity is so real, you can almost feel it when you walk into the room. Kids from every continent (sans Antarctica) grouped together in a class of 23 students.

With recent events in the United States, we have been talking a lot about race relations and how things may change over the next four years. In doing so, I had one particular students emphasize the need for the term "African-American" instead of saying "Black." This sparked a rowdy debate about what people should say for every person under the sun. It was all put to rest though by Josh, a kid that normally makes me cringe when he starts his diatribes. But today:

"I'm just a guy. On one side, I'm Irish, and on another, I'm Russian. But I'm really just a guy."

It thrills me that some people can state so plainly that racial issues can be left behind when we focus not on the skin, but on the person inhabiting that skin.