Finally figured out how to explain to people why saying “white people this” Or “men are that” isn’t racist or sexist (depending on what is being said)

In the English language, when discussing a group, it’s grammatically and functionally accurate to describe them by a truthful, dominant characteristic. If a teacher had a class of 30 kids and 20 of them are all talking at once and 10 of them are quietly reading, that teacher could accurately and truthfully say “these students are noisy today”. Does that explicitly mean every student is noisy? No. Does it mean as a group, a dominant feature of them is that they are noisy? Yes! This statement is accurate and while the quiet students may feel a way about being included in that assessment, they can’t deny that they, as a class, are noisy even if they themselves, individually, are not.

If they are upset in being included in the assessment they should not be mad at the teacher for speaking truthfully of the group. They should actively try and quiet their classmates.

Apply accordingly.