Teaching 6-Year-Olds About Privilege and Power

On a sunny day in April, I drove to Head-Royce School in the hills of Oakland, California, to join circle time in Bret Turner’s first-grade classroom. I had asked Turner if I could sit in on some lessons after reading an article he wrote describing how he teaches about some surprising topics — like race and class — in an elementary school classroom. I wanted to see what that looked like and what kind of conversations first-graders at this private school would have around such complicated and fraught topics.

After students sang a song to welcome each other to a new day of learning, went over the schedule and played a quick movement game, Turner settled his 6-year-olds on the rug for a discussion about homelessness………..