ssh... don't tell the children.

"there is a belief advanced today, and in some cases by conservative [negro] authors, that poor [nonwhite] children should not be allowed to hear too much about these matters [inequalities in public education]. if they learn how less they are getting than rich [white] children, we are told, this knowledge may induce them to regard themselves as 'victims,' and such 'victim-thinking,' it is argued, may then undermine their capability to profit from whatever opportunities may actually exist. but this is a matter of psychology --or strategy-- and not reality. the matter, in any case, is academic since most adolescents in the poorest neighborhoods learn very soon that they are getting less than children in the wealthier school districts. they see suburban schools on television and they see them when they travel for athletic competitions. it is a waste of time to worry whether we should tell them something they could tell us. about injustice, most poor children in america cannot be fooled."

*excerpted from "savage inequalities" by jonathan kozol, pg.57