Did we accidently offend these Chinese parents of a student?

Question

We're having a diversity day in which students from different cultures were asked to give a greeting in their native language.

I sent home a permission slip asking if the child could stay after school w/the other kids to practice.

The child's parents do not speak much English, so I sent a note asking if his older cousin could translate the letter for the parents.

The response that came back was this, "NO! We reject the program. He will not participate".

I found that strange. Did I offend them? Did they think other kids would laugh at him because the majority of the other students are Black and Hispanic w/very few Asians?

Answer 1

There is SO MUCH wrong with this....

Starting with a "Diversity day".

Answer 2

the world we live in today....

Answer 3

That's interesting...hmm, I guess the only way you'll know is if you try and speak to the parents yourself.

Answer 4

Maybe there was a misunderstanding when the cousin interpreted your note. I can't see any other possibility.

Answer 5

I wonder what your letter said? Were only minorities being asked to stay after school? It's not exactly clear to me why they needed to stay after school to practice giving a greeting in their native language.  Maybe the parents didn't get it, either? Perhaps the letter explained everything (and perhaps the kid just had another commitment after school that day), but maybe the parents didn't appreciate the idea that some kids were singled out for their differences and expected to stay after school because they looked different....  Personally, I'd ideally want a "diversity day" to include everybody, not just blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, and I would find it a little weird whether my kids were being asked to stay because of their skin color or whether they were being excluded from the activity because they were white.

My kids' school does plenty of diversity activities, and I think it's great to celebrate everyone's backgrounds and traditions, but in our school it's done with the idea that everyone has something unique about their background ... different countries to which they can trace their ancestors, etc.  So everyone participates.