Reply #27: I hear what you are saying,

[wildeyed]

but I think that if they told them ahead what the plan was, it would have lost its immediacy and made little impression. The point was, I think, for the exercise to be a little traumatic and upsetting. How else do you give privileged kids a taste of what discrimination feels like? I *want* my kids to feel that sting, so they will be certain not to inflict it on others, and to have a deeper, emotional understanding of the issue. And they get to go back to being privileged at the end of the day anyway.

But I agree that there should have been some intense follow up and a lot of direction given to the parents on how to discuss the exercise with their kids.