That's the thing. You can grow up and know your parents are terrible racists, and not become one. It is clearly possible, or how have we gotten here today?
It's not about how far we've come or how things have changed since our parents were children, it's about how much farther we have to go. (And sometimes, kids don't realize that their parents are racist and then they act in the same way as their parents, not really knowing why what they're doing is wrong.)
My point was not that we don't have a long way to go, but that is is clearly possible for change to happen and for people to have beliefs that differ from those of their parents. And that the way we as a society drive that change in opinions is by publicly and vocally calling people out for their bullshit.
I am absolutely fine with these kids having the spotlight shined on them and having to defend their opinions. If you make a public statement, you are accepting public discourse on your statement. If in fact these kids were raised to be racist and are unaware that there is something wrong with that, well they are going to find out most of us think there is something wrong with it. These are not 8 year olds who are using a slur that their dad uses because they don't really understand what it means. These are teenagers who are about to enter society as adults. These are people who feel qualified to enter the public debate about politics. They have had plenty of exposure to other opinions, and are old enough to know that parents are fallible and that they need to develop their own opinions. I doubt any 17 year old shares all the beliefs of their parents, because they are old enough to make their own choices.
Like I said, I think in most cases the school is not in a position to do anything about the tweets. Students
do have freedom of speech, and as agents of the state public schools have no business telling them what they can and cannot say outside of school. Forced diversity training is unlikely to have much of an effect, because you would have to want to change your mind to not approach it as some stupid 'PC' thing you were forced to do because you are so persecuted in modern America for being white, bloo bloo...
But one thing that makes a lot of people change their behavior is understanding that most of your peers don't think your behavior is ok. Many people who live in racist communities and say racist things do so because it is popular to do so. It is normal in some places and so there is little social risk in doing so. The point of these shaming campaigns is to make there be a high social risk of doing so online. If we can change the perception of the social space of Twitter, for example, to be one in which it is not popular to be racist, and posting racist tweets violates the social norm of the community, then people who are live in places where it is the norm, will be forced to think about their behavior in both situations. It is not about preventing people from stating their opinions, people can still choose to violate the no racism norm, but if they want to do so they will have to be prepared for social sanctions.
On a related note, a Tumblr has appeared:
http://hellothereracists.tumblr.com/Edit:
Also as a note for people concerned that these teens won't be able to get into college or find a job after this exposure, anyone with half a brain, who actually realized they were wrong could write their admission essay about this experience and how they hadn't thought about their actions, but that the exposure made them re-assess their opinions and now they now realize both the impact fo their words and all the things they can gain by participating in a divers society. That shit writes its self.
Ditto for a "tell me about a mistake you have made" question at an interview.