Gucci sunglasses, second houses and international vacations: On the surface, this is what privilege looks like at Urban. But privilege goes much deeper than physical manifestations of wealth. Understanding the ways in which privilege shows up in our lives is critical for us to understand one another and our world.  Rethinking the way we talk about privilege will benefit all of us.

Educational privilege is unavoidable in private schools like Urban. “Even the fact that you’ve made it here, that you’ve had family or whoever that’s encouraged you to get here — that’s privilege in itself,” said Lily Mitchiner ’26, co-leader of the Anti-Racist White Privilege Awareness (AWPA) ally space.

At Urban, students sometimes see privilege as inherently bad. There are many negative stereotypes around privilege, such as people with privilege being unaware or out of touch. 

As a result, people can often feel a sense of guilt around their own privilege. “We talk about [privilege at] Urban sometimes in a demonizing format,” said Ella Pradhan ’27, AWPA fellow. “I think that privilege needs to be talked about … a little more objectively.” 

An important part of acknowledging and talking about privilege is being willing to lean into discomfort. “[Privilege] comes with a lot of guilt and heaviness and [a] feeling of powerlessness. There [are] often privileges connected to things that we didn’t choose for ourselves,” said Courtney Rein, AWPA faculty advisor and English teacher. “Think of [discussing privilege] as [an] empowerment moment rather than a paralysis moment, [when you’re] thinking, ‘I don’t deserve this’ or ‘I didn’t choose it, so it’s not my responsibility to reckon with.’” 

There are already spaces at Urban that work to open up conversations about privilege, such as the Financial Aid and Socioeconomic Status (FASES) affinity space. “[Privilege] is just not really talked about,” FASES co-leader Laia Trachtenberg ’26 said. “Having … open-book conversations [about privilege] is the best way to approach it.” 

Though spaces like FASES are currently facilitating conversations about privilege, it is crucial that these conversations move into the broader school community.

Talking about privilege can help to combat the bubble of Urban culture. “Growing up, my privilege kept me from understanding a lot of the larger world that I lived in,” Rein said. “Privilege can serve to isolate and insulate. … It is a way to keep people safe and secure, [but] it also can be a barrier to knowing and understanding and connecting with others.”

Instead of approaching conversations around privilege through the lens of negative biases or stereotypes, students should be open to expanding their understanding of privilege through conversation. Changing how we talk about privilege at Urban will empower us to understand the experiences of people outside our school community when we leave campus. 

Mitchiner described her experience with privilege on the 2025 Mississippi trip, which focused on learning about the history of civil rights activism in the South. “There’s a bit of a weird feeling in Mississippi with a bunch of rich white kids from San Francisco going into the very rural, very poor South,” Mitchiner said. “But also, we found similarities everywhere, and I think that’s what learning is. … It was a really powerful teaching tool. … Highlighting other less privileged voices [and] doing our best to educate ourselves is the best we can do.”