Society has changed. I won't go so far as to say we are a perfect society and we may never be, but we are improving and we can continue to improve. We saw people come together in Jasper, Texas. That doesn't mean we don't have challenges- like the internet and where that is taking us. People interacting in a small heterogeneous group and interacting with a teacher so that they have the guidance while they share with each other is better.
Smaller classes are definitely better.
It is not a panacea. We need to have a lot of way s to do this. Legislation, education, information like the Court TV show and their Choices and Consequences program. We live in an ever growing, polaristic society, and we need to be able to understand each other and respect each other. Hate crime legislation is just one way of dealing with it, but there are many many others.