Michigan College Prep Workshop Singles Out White Students to Check Their 'Privilege'
A college prep event in Michigan asked high school students to tally how many privileges they have, and upon completing the exercise the white students were singled out as having the most.
The College Fix reported on June 23 that during a college prep course at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, seniors from area high schools took part in a number of 45-minute activities, one of which was focused on subjects like privilege, tolerance and diversity.
Students played a game where they were given strips of paper which described all kinds of privileges, and they kept the paper strip if they identified with it. The paper strips included privileges related to body shape and odor, and seeing a member of their race on the newspaper's front page.
"I can be pretty sure that my neighbors will be neutral or pleasant to me wherever I choose to live," one paper read. Another read something along the lines of "I do not have to worry while going through security," a student who attended the event said, according to The College Fix.
At the end of this exercise, the students tallied the number of paper strips they had kept; it became clear to several attendees that white students were being deliberately singled out.
One student who spoke with The College Fix on condition of anonymity said that while the paper strips never mentioned one particular race, the game was "definitely calling out [white privilege.]"
Tim Travis, principal of Saugatuck High School, said in an email to The College Fix that the event did not intend "to call attention to white privilege in particular," and that the learning outcomes were to give students a "better idea of how certain aspects of their identity affect their everyday lives," how to help students reflect on their personal lives, and how to relate to and communicate with people with different experiences and backgrounds.
A spokesperson for Lake Michigan College noted that the college merely hosted the event and didn't contribute any content.
Privilege is a term often used to highlight the social advantages white people have over racial minorities, but the principle of privilege also extends to other areas of life.
Several universities across the United States have sponsored "privilege walks" where students are asked how they're feeling and are given trigger warnings in response to questions about their privilege, The College Fix reported in April 2016.
In many of these exercises, privileges include "having the ethnic identity of 'American,' identifying as Christian, being able to 'ignore the width of doors, the presence of stairs, and other architectural features of buildings."
