Washington International School Decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an international school. There are students from all over the world there from countries that have people of all races and who speak multiple languages. .

And yet somehow from all of these countries they can only find mostly white children? Also not sure you can say it reflects the world/global perspectives if there are barely any kids from Africa or Asia. This seems like a very white European definition of what international means. Also, the US is not the only country where conversations about diversity and representation are happening (it matters even in Europe! Look at France as one example) and it’s not about just counting the number of POC. Being an international school should put an even bigger burden on you to be a home for a student body that is a true array of cultures and ethnicities. Several moons ago, WIS used to manage this really really well so it’s not impossible. It’s a choice.

I would not enroll a child in the French program at WIS or in any French school if you did not want them subjected to the French perspective of race. There is no way to be immersed in a language and not be immersed in the parts of the culture where the culture is struggling. An American child struggling with being a POC in American society will only struggle more with the added confusion of the French philosophy on race. That said, black French families we know, especially those who plan to return to francophone countries, do not want the American perspective added for the inverse reason, that it will make their children’s lives more difficult.

It is not WIS’s fault that that both French and American cultures struggle with race in different ways. WIS is at the intersection of this struggle with different constituencies wanting different solutions. I simply would not enroll my own child and put my own child in this situation.

[Anonymous]

So much outdated information and outright fiction in this thread. In particular, LOL at the comments about a “lack of diversity”at WIS. My child’s class of 14 has 3 American white kids and one Western European. The rest have Asian, African, or mixed-race backgrounds. As for the primary school faculty: at least in the Early Years program, more French teachers are from non-European Francophone nations (Cameroon, Algeria, others) than from France. The school’s graduating class of ~60 students this year represented 45 nationalities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much outdated information and outright fiction in this thread. In particular, LOL at the comments about a “lack of diversity”at WIS. My child’s class of 14 has 3 American white kids and one Western European. The rest have Asian, African, or mixed-race backgrounds. As for the primary school faculty: at least in the Early Years program, more French teachers are from non-European Francophone nations (Cameroon, Algeria, others) than from France. The school’s graduating class of ~60 students this year represented 45 nationalities.

WIS has made progress and still has such a long way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s an international school. There are students from all over the world there from countries that have people of all races and who speak multiple languages. It’s not a school that is lumped in with the same racial lens of an American type school. This is why we chose this school. It takes a globally diverse perspective, not a narrow American one which is always preoccupied with how many people of one color or another there are.

Completely agree. People should stop applying an American lens/approach in judging how WIS handles racial, cultural, ethnic, and national diversity. It is so much more than how many people of color are there. Many of the kids there in the so-called privileged racial groups have rich life experiences being born and raised in different countries (global north and south). The kids there know that the world is so much bigger than the U.S. and that's a key reason for sending the kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an international school. There are students from all over the world there from countries that have people of all races and who speak multiple languages. It’s not a school that is lumped in with the same racial lens of an American type school. This is why we chose this school. It takes a globally diverse perspective, not a narrow American one which is always preoccupied with how many people of one color or another there are.

Completely agree. People should stop applying an American lens/approach in judging how WIS handles racial, cultural, ethnic, and national diversity. It is so much more than how many people of color are there. Many of the kids there in the so-called privileged racial groups have rich life experiences being born and raised in different countries (global north and south). The kids there know that the world is so much bigger than the U.S. and that's a key reason for sending the kids there.

People should use whatever lens they want to decide on the best school for their individual child in their own eyes.

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the poster who thinks the information here is outdated - it sounds like you may have a very young child at WIS. Our child, who visited WIS, said she did not see anyone who looked like her. She is a dark-skinned AA child. As for the IB diploma that they push - that is just not a priority for us. We were interested because we thought it would truly be more reflective of the wider global community but were were wring. It is as white and over-privileged as any other DC private and the fact that it is “international”
does not change this or its “we are the ruling class” feel. We had hoped to like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about the poster who thinks the information here is outdated - it sounds like you may have a very young child at WIS. Our child, who visited WIS, said she did not see anyone who looked like her. She is a dark-skinned AA child. As for the IB diploma that they push - that is just not a priority for us. We were interested because we thought it would truly be more reflective of the wider global community but were were wring. It is as white and over-privileged as any other DC private and the fact that it is “international”
does not change this or its “we are the ruling class” feel. We had hoped to like it.

+100

[Anonymous]

I am a WIS mom. My two daughters got into WIS, one in this grade and the other kindergarten. I applied for financial aid for both. They got admitted into the school but did not get approved for financial aid. So, from a personal experience, it is true that the admission process is need-blind and the admission decision is separate from financial aid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what the admissions people get to see if prob not the same as what the teachers see. And admissions people don't maek the decisions.

You clearly don’t know the AO at this school.

What do you mean? We were rejected and had applied for FA.

Actually, this proves the point. All I meant is that, in this particular case, it is hard to see how their process can be truly need-blind if the application (which ALL members of the admissions committee get to see) specifically asks if you are applying for financial aid. It would be hard to "unsee" this information during their deliberations. And when you add to this that the school is not known to be particularly generous when it comes to FA and many FA applicants often get rejected... one could conclude that applying for FA at this school puts you at a disadvantage. Not saying it is impossible of course, just a disadvantage. But maybe the same is true for all the schools!

And regarding the point about the AO at this specific school (who also is the director of financial aid): there is no way this particular person was not deeply involved in the deliberations and final decisions.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We were really surprised the admissions team and all school leadership seemed to be white Americans.[/quote]

HoS and Associate HoS identify as women of color[/quote]

And the Upper School principal is from Afghanistan.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We were really surprised the admissions team and all school leadership seemed to be white Americans.[/quote]

HoS and Associate HoS identify as women of color[/quote]

And the Upper School principal is from Afghanistan. [/quote]

Aren’t they looking for a new upper school principal?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We were really surprised the admissions team and all school leadership seemed to be white Americans.[/quote]

HoS and Associate HoS identify as women of color[/quote]

And the Upper School principal is from Afghanistan. [/quote]

Aren’t they looking for a new upper school principal?[/quote]

No, they hired a new one this year who is a Muslim Afghan immigrant. The middle school principal is an out gay man. Diversity has more layers than just black/white at WIS.

[Anonymous]

And the head of the lower school is not American; she's Australian. "Seemed to be white Americans" shows that poster's own unconscious bias. The faculty and students are international.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We were really surprised the admissions team and all school leadership seemed to be white Americans.[/quote]

HoS and Associate HoS identify as women of color[/quote]

And the Upper School principal is from Afghanistan. [/quote]

Aren’t they looking for a new upper school principal?[/quote]

No, they hired a new one this year who is a Muslim Afghan immigrant. The middle school principal is an out gay man. Diversity has more layers than just black/white at WIS. [/quote]

The current HS principal is "interim" and they are hiring a replacement.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We were really surprised the admissions team and all school leadership seemed to be white Americans.[/quote]

HoS and Associate HoS identify as women of color[/quote]

And the Upper School principal is from Afghanistan. [/quote]

Aren’t they looking for a new upper school principal?[/quote]

No, they hired a new one this year who is a Muslim Afghan immigrant. The middle school principal is an out gay man. Diversity has more layers than just black/white at WIS. [/quote]

The current HS principal is "interim" and they are hiring a replacement. [/quote]

Is this ding? I don’t get the point of your post. That person exists…are you implying interim is less than?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about the poster who thinks the information here is outdated - it sounds like you may have a very young child at WIS. Our child, who visited WIS, said she did not see anyone who looked like her. She is a dark-skinned AA child. As for the IB diploma that they push - that is just not a priority for us. We were interested because we thought it would truly be more reflective of the wider global community but were were wring. It is as white and over-privileged as any other DC private and the fact that it is “international”
does not change this or its “we are the ruling class” feel. We had hoped to like it.

+100

Exactly