Hi Kimmers: Re. your statements/questions:

"Have you ever considered the idea that private schools are just a teeny little bit racist? After integration in the South, whites protested desgregation by removing their kids from the newly integrated public schools and sending them to private religious schools instead. The public schools were left for the blacks. Being religious in nature, the private schools are of course tax-exempt. And what minority would ever apply to get in?"

Having grown up in south Alabama, I can attest that this is incorrect. After desegregation, blacks and whites mingled just fine in the public schools (which I attended). The only private schools I can remember were Catholic schools, and they were considered wierd because we didn't understand what they were doing in there. Also, there was the private "academy". They were perceived to be for kids with behavior problems because they were predominently military prep schools in nature. We always felt sorry for those poor souls who were consigned there.

The "modern" style private school (which included fundamental changes in the church schools) evolved, starting big-time in the 1970s -long after desegregation- when education began to take a back seat to cultural issues, political correctness, and government-mandated programs.

As far as blatant racism goes, I experienced much more of it in my travels within the northeastern states. The racism there was positively vicious!