Decline to State

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/333/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Nancy Muldoon/p pI recently got a parent survey in the mail from the San Francisco Unified School district. My child attends a public school and is currently in the fourth grade./p pMy daughter is biracial. She is Irish-American and African American. The survey in the mail requires me to select one box only under the "ethnicity"br / category./p pThe categories are as follows: African-American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Latino, Native-American, Other Non-White, Other White, and Decline to State. /p pLet's consider the last two for a moment. /p p"Other White?" What the hell is Other White? Will someone please explain this to me? There is no "Caucasian" or "White" box to check. Just "Other White."/p pI am Irish-American and I don't consider myself as "Other White." But the survey is about my child's ethnicity, not mine. /p pOn principle, I will not choose one box to make some bureaucrat happy.br / I will not check one box to make it easier for the Census Bureau. Why should I?br / In essence my child is being told that she must pledge allegiance to one race or the other. It's the governments "divide and conquer" routine and it's not even clever./p pIf I choose the "Decline to State" box, it makes me seem obstinate and unwillingbr / to play by the rules. When the fact of the matter is I am not declining to state anything. It is the survey that is declining parents the opportunity to choose more than one box. Declining to State also has a 5th Amendment mentality to it. As in: "I decline to state on grounds that whatever I say may incriminate me or my child."/p pWho are these bureaucrats who make up these pointless surveys? And, how much money are they being paid? Inquiring minds like mine really want to know. /p pAt this point I don't even know if I will actually complete the survey and mail it in.br / Maybe I should write a scathing letter to the San Francisco Unified School District asking them what purpose does the survey serve? I also wonder if they will send me a well-worded form letter saying that they "Decline to State."br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p