Banneker versus School Without Walls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

I'm a college prof who isn't white. I've taught scores of high-achieving AA students over the years. I've also volunteered at Banneker. I don't care for racially segregated high schools in this country, whatever their background story.

Funny, me too. Taught at VT. As a professor, you should be familiar with the history of white people avoiding AAs in school, like in NYC most recently.

As professors and people who feel competent to hold out opinions on this stuff ... I'd expect you to know about HBCUs and have some background in critical race theory (the actual critical race theory not the Fox News version). Forced school integration has a far-from-rosy history. It's what led Derrick Bell to start down the road of developing critical race theory in general. If Banneker works for black students I'm not about to complain about it. An influx of white families might lead to Nice White Parent syndrome (which I think is kind of bunk but I can totally see happening at Banneker.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve skimmed White Fragility and attended a workshop with Robin. I’m not part of her target audience. Although I shouldn’t be, I’m shocked by the lengths that some people will go to center themselves and their needs with regard to pretty much everything— including opportunities and settings that function quite well as they were designed.

I'm shocked by the lengths that DCPS AND DCPC will go to to pretend that kids get a world-class education in DC public high schools without focused, and pricey, supplementing on the part of families, both for academics and extra curriculars.

I've interviewed at least one applicant to my Ivy from Latin, BASIS, Walls and Banneker every year for the last five years. Few these applicants seem to have received a first-rate, well-rounded education. But I can tell you that the Walls applicants have generally been ahead of the curve. Worth noting that in any given year, Walls usually produces the mot National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists of the DC public schools.

Absolutely nothing that you wrote corresponds directly to anything that I wrote — except your use of the word “shocked”, but: OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

I'm a college prof who isn't white. I've taught scores of high-achieving AA students over the years. I've also volunteered at Banneker. I don't care for racially segregated high schools in this country, whatever their background story.

Funny, me too. Taught at VT. As a professor, you should be familiar with the history of white people avoiding AAs in school, like in NYC most recently.

As professors and people who feel competent to hold out opinions on this stuff ... I'd expect you to know about HBCUs and have some background in critical race theory (the actual critical race theory not the Fox News version). Forced school integration has a far-from-rosy history. It's what led Derrick Bell to start down the road of developing critical race theory in general. If Banneker works for black students I'm not about to complain about it. An influx of white families might lead to Nice White Parent syndrome (which I think is kind of bunk but I can totally see happening at Banneker.)

Nice White Parent syndrome is exactly what I’m referring to above. I am not in law so did not study CRT. But you know that most white people in DC won’t send their white child to Banneker because it’s too black and they think it is not rigorous because of the student population. You have seen the opinions on this thread… won’t even give it a chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

Agree! There is nothing wrong with Banneker today. White DC residents are missing out on an excellent school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

Disagree and I'm not white. I'd like to seen the facilities remade in the image of the teenage population of the District in 2021. Comments from champions of the status quo evoke the arguments made for keeping racial, ethnic and religious minorities out of functional institutions in previous generations. We don't need them. We're excellent without them. No need to up our game to compete with them. They're irrelevant to our success. Nobody should fall for this cozenage.

When I look up at Banneker's average SAT scores, just a tad higher than the national average for math and English, I'm not convinced that the school wouldn't do better by its students with a more racially and socio-economically diverse study body. Need evidence? Walls' average scores are almost 100 points higher, per subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

Banneker and Walls have two very different school cultures; why compare the two?


You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

Disagree and I'm not white. I'd like to seen the facilities remade in the image of the teenage population of the District in 2021. Comments from champions of the status quo evoke the arguments made for keeping racial, ethnic and religious minorities out of functional institutions in previous generations. We don't need them. We're excellent without them. No need to up our game to compete with them. They're irrelevant to our success. Nobody should fall for this cozenage.

When I look up at Banneker's average SAT scores, just a tad higher than the national average for math and English, I'm not convinced that the school wouldn't do better by its students with a more racially and socio-economically diverse study body. Need evidence? Walls' average scores are almost 100 points higher, per subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

Agree! There is nothing wrong with Banneker today. White DC residents are missing out on an excellent school.

I'd feel the very same way if Banneker's average SAT scores were in the 1400s rather than under 1100.

I'm fine with this sort of comment if the poster's a DC resident who meets two conditions. Condition #1: Poster is white. Condition #2: Poster enrolled his or her teenager at Banneker.

If neither of the above is true, it's just silly cant. No skin in the game, where's the credibility?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

Agree! There is nothing wrong with Banneker today. White DC residents are missing out on an excellent school.

I'd feel the very same way if Banneker's average SAT scores were in the 1400s rather than under 1100.

I'm fine with this sort of comment if the poster's a DC resident who meets two conditions. Condition #1: Poster is white. Condition #2: Poster enrolled his her teenager at Banneker.

If neither of the above is true, it's just silly cant. No skin in the game, where's the credibility?

Yes, I have skin in the game. My kid has been very happy at Banneker but agrees with others that the Principal is not warm and fuzzy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

I'm a college prof who isn't white. I've taught scores of high-achieving AA students over the years. I've also volunteered at Banneker. I don't care for racially segregated high schools in this country, whatever their background story.

Funny, me too. Taught at VT. As a professor, you should be familiar with the history of white people avoiding AAs in school, like in NYC most recently.

As professors and people who feel competent to hold out opinions on this stuff ... I'd expect you to know about HBCUs and have some background in critical race theory (the actual critical race theory not the Fox News version). Forced school integration has a far-from-rosy history. It's what led Derrick Bell to start down the road of developing critical race theory in general. If Banneker works for black students I'm not about to complain about it. An influx of white families might lead to Nice White Parent syndrome (which I think is kind of bunk but I can totally see happening at Banneker.)

Nice White Parent syndrome is exactly what I’m referring to above. I am not in law so did not study CRT. But you know that most white people in DC won’t send their white child to Banneker because it’s too black and they think it is not rigorous because of the student population. You have seen the opinions on this thread… won’t even give it a chance.

right, those words and thoughts are racist. but the answer to that is not to claim that Banneker being effectively and HBCU public high school is bad, or needs to be remediated in the name of integration.

[Anonymous]

Bannecker SAT scores are mediocre at best.

It is a good school compared with Eastern, but not compared with HS elsewhere. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

DP: Sadly, I suspect that the point of this thread is as simple as a few posters, stunned by the excellence, supportive environment, and shiny new building at Banneker, want to remake the facilities in their own image. The tone of many of the comments is the opposite of genuine inclusiveness.

Agree! There is nothing wrong with Banneker today. White DC residents are missing out on an excellent school.

I'd feel the very same way if Banneker's average SAT scores were in the 1400s rather than under 1100.

I'm fine with this sort of comment if the poster's a DC resident who meets two conditions. Condition #1: Poster is white. Condition #2: Poster enrolled his her teenager at Banneker.

If neither of the above is true, it's just silly cant. No skin in the game, where's the credibility?

Yes, I have skin in the game. My kid has been very happy at Banneker but agrees with others that the Principal is not warm and fuzzy.

She is not, which is fine. What is not fine is her treatment of some males and LGBTQIA students at the school. Perhaps this year is better but in previous years it has been a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bannecker SAT scores are mediocre at best.

It is a good school compared with Eastern, but not compared with HS elsewhere. Sorry.

Banneker's average SAT scores, in the mid 500s for English and math, would be mediocre if it weren't an elite, test-in HS for "smart kids" as has been noted.

Under the circumstances, the scores can only be described as weak. But many seniors crack great colleges anyway, so perhaps lackluster SAT scores are immaterial in Banneker's particular case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're being sarcastic?

I estimate that Walls is turning away at least 75 white applicants per year, and a couple dozen Asians, most of whom are qualified to attend. There are more qualified white and Asian families who'd stay in the public system for high school at BASIS, or presumably an equivalent program academically, if they had an entry option for new 9th grade students. There is a HS entry option at the BASIS Arizona programs, but not here in DC.

These numbers point to white and Asian buy-in for a second diverse academic test-in HS program in this city right now, and more still in the future, given changing DCPS and DCPC middle school demographics.

Running Banneker as the HS equivalent of an HBCU pretty clearly deters a good cohort of whites and Asians who lack access to both Wilson and Walls from applying. It's simple. If there were less emphasis on educating minorities at Banneker and more emphasis on academic excellence and inclusiveness, the school could attract more whites, and some Asians, possibly a lot more. Higher admissions standards and better teaching would help, along with more robust academics, particularly on the IB Diploma track.

You know zero about the school. You should stop because you’re embarrassing yourself. You clearly never associate high achieving with Black students, which is sad. Banneker has smart, highly motivated students.

I'm a college prof who isn't white. I've taught scores of high-achieving AA students over the years. I've also volunteered at Banneker. I don't care for racially segregated high schools in this country, whatever their background story.

Funny, me too. Taught at VT. As a professor, you should be familiar with the history of white people avoiding AAs in school, like in NYC most recently.

As professors and people who feel competent to hold out opinions on this stuff ... I'd expect you to know about HBCUs and have some background in critical race theory (the actual critical race theory not the Fox News version). Forced school integration has a far-from-rosy history. It's what led Derrick Bell to start down the road of developing critical race theory in general. If Banneker works for black students I'm not about to complain about it. An influx of white families might lead to Nice White Parent syndrome (which I think is kind of bunk but I can totally see happening at Banneker.)

Nice White Parent syndrome is exactly what I’m referring to above. I am not in law so did not study CRT. But you know that most white people in DC won’t send their white child to Banneker because it’s too black and they think it is not rigorous because of the student population. You have seen the opinions on this thread… won’t even give it a chance.

Look, it’s not good enough that I’m going to send my kid there, but it’s doing a good enough job with the population that chooses it and I don’t think it would be served by having a bunch of white folks show up. I don’t think that should be a goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bannecker SAT scores are mediocre at best.

It is a good school compared with Eastern, but not compared with HS elsewhere. Sorry.

Banneker's average SAT scores, in the mid 500s for English and math, would be mediocre if it weren't an elite, test-in HS for "smart kids" as has been noted.

Under the circumstances, the scores can only be described as weak. But many seniors crack great colleges anyway, so perhaps lackluster SAT scores are immaterial in Banneker's particular case.

Ouch.