As a white woman I was oblivious to my privilege for most of my life. Just as Peggy McIntosh said in her article on white privilege, people of white privilege are taught to not realize it or pay attention to their superiority. It can be difficult to take a step back and consider other opinions on simple things that they are not included in. For example, dance tights or soft dancing shoes. We are often asked to wear nude coloured tights and shoes. This nude colour is a light beige and is meant to look like the same colour as your skin without showing your skin. This happens all the time with this nude colour. Growing up I never thought anything of it, I never had a problem with matching my tights and shoes to my skin colour. I do remember one instance where I became fully aware that these tights and shoes were not made for everyone and they were only made for the “dominant” culture. I was backstage at a dance competition and a girl was about to go onstage for a ballet pointe group dance. She got a snag in her tights and her teacher was frantically going around trying to find a new pair for her. The problem was that she had to dye her tights herself when she bought them so they would be darker. Of course, there wasn’t anybody else who had extra dyed tights, so she went on stage with a different pair even though they did not match her skin. I remember everyone thinking that it was this big disaster that her tights did not match when it was not even her fault. I also remember thinking that I was so glad I never had to worry about that kind of thing happening to me. This was one of the first times I remember realizing that I had privilege over this other girl because I did not need to worry about going through extra trouble just for my tights and shoes to match my skin. This is another thing that McIntosh’s article touches on. If we are not directly affected by the situation, we care less about it. This is just one example but, in her article, she lists many more that I still did not even realize and appreciate until reading it. I believe that as teachers we must become aware of all the aspects that racism is involved with to get a full understanding of our student’s situations and needs. We need to consider both the privileged as well as the students who are considered to be in minority.