The novel investigates and portrays how racism is not inherent to human nature, but is instead passed down generation to generation by way of education. Up to a certain point, white children in the novel are “colorblind”: they do not form any racial prejudices about the black maids who raise them. But, as Aibileen has learned from her experience raising seventeen white children, the kids start to see racial differences when their parents and teachers enforce prevailing racist attitudes. When Mae Mobley draws a picture of herself with a black crayon, her teacher scolds her, saying that black people are “dirty” and she should draw herself as white unless she wants people to think she’s “dirty” too. To maintain the racial hierarchy in the South