Keep the Poor Students in Poor Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, he'd be nouveau riche or a parvenu. 2 million a year is not "upper middle class" even in DC.

annual income: 1.8 Million

annual Debt:

mortgage: 150,000
tuition( 3 kids in pre-k, 1st and 3rd grade: 110,000/yearly
student loans debt( self and wife): 600,000 total ( ? yearly)
long term care for parents( both husband and wife's):: 200,000/yearly
taxes: ?? 200,000 / year
malpractice insurance: 300,000/year
2 car payments: 50,000/year
savings for kids college: 75,000/year

Not exactly rich, huh.Get the picture ?

Yes, they are rich. They just choose to spend their RICHES poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're all nuts, especially the lady/gentleman above who doesn't want her kids mixing with lower classes. I can't believe people like they exist anymore in the age group young enough to have school aged kids.

I disagree. I'm sure your DC's child is filled with kids whose parents are 55 and DC is 4 years old in pre-K. Definitely tons of parents born in the 60s when schools weren't fully integrated yet. So I can see why they have this anti-FA attitude. They're of the Civil Rights generation and they're passing the same bias and prejudice down to their kids.

[Anonymous]

Financial aid should only be offered to high achieving college and high school tudents who cannot afford the full tuition; offering financial aid to pre-school kids based family income is not only unfair but a wast of school's resources.

[Anonymous]

10:54 - at the K-8th level, do you not see any value (educationally or socially) in having students from a range of SES? Also, if you wait until HS or college, bright and high achieving students coming out of terrible public schools are frequently so far behind it can be a confidence killer and even impossible for them to catch up.

As an example, as an upper classman in college I was matched with a girl who was valedictorian at her high school in a Texas town that was predominantly migrant workers. She didn't test very well on the SAT, but her recs, grades, extracurriculars, etc. were all outstanding. She came in on scholarships and totally drowned. She was so far behind in basic writing skills and fundamental math that she was in completely over her head with college coursework. She failed out within the year in spite of tons of effort on her part and attempts to get her caught up via the writing center and tutoring. That girl was plenty smart and charismatic and probably would have thrived in a private school and then gone on to do quite well in college. Personally I like the idea of FA at the elementary level if it identifies and benefits a kid like her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Financial aid should only be offered to high achieving college and high school tudents who cannot afford the full tuition; offering financial aid to pre-school kids based family income is not only unfair but a wast of school's resources.

You're a buffoon and sound pissed because your child was rejected from your first-choice school. Or is it that you don't want your child exposed to children you feel are inferior?

Not many students from public schools that are sorely lacking in school resources will be academically qualified for entry into private school.

[Anonymous]

11:10 here again- I should have said "matched in a mentor program." Also, 11:25 did a much better job saying what I was trying to say with their last sentence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pay for private school because I want my child to be with children of like minded parents--emphasis on education, respect, good manners. Placing children of a different SES that do not behave nicely, have the same values can foster resentment in their non FA peers. And like Obama said about bussing kids around...at the end of the day they have to come back to their home and deal with the problems there.
If a school gives FA to children with like-minded families and that are ready for the academic rigor then I have no problem with itt. I only have a problem when they use these minorities as tokens...it's not good for them or for the school.

fancy way of saying you are buying a more expensive peer group
A peer group where the kids get dunk on shampagne instead of beer

Either way, reminded me of the way the people used to justify segragation in the south

Segregation has it's advantages. Why is it that they have different learning groups in school? Teaching to like minded individuals is easier and less stressful for everyone involved....but if you want your kids to be with average joes then send them to public school. And good to know that you favor using people as tokens. What a way to build up someone's self esteem. Everytime you see a person of color in a high position you'll assume that it was thru affirmitive action.

[Anonymous]

Racist Pricks.......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're all nuts, especially the lady/gentleman above who doesn't want her kids mixing with lower classes. I can't believe people like they exist anymore in the age group young enough to have school aged kids.

I disagree. I'm sure your DC's child is filled with kids whose parents are 55 and DC is 4 years old in pre-K. Definitely tons of parents born in the 60s when schools weren't fully integrated yet. So I can see why they have this anti-FA attitude. They're of the Civil Rights generation and they're passing the same bias and prejudice down to their kids.

Actually , I think the bigot is someone from Peoria . They started posting on DCUM last year to try to solicit neg info on a former LS head at Potomac, lurked for a while and perhaps like the site. The narrow minded views stand out like a sore thumb though in the DCUM forum. I do not think they are local posters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pay for private school because I want my child to be with children of like minded parents--emphasis on education, respect, good manners. Placing children of a different SES that do not behave nicely, have the same values can foster resentment in their non FA peers. And like Obama said about bussing kids around...at the end of the day they have to come back to their home and deal with the problems there.
If a school gives FA to children with like-minded families and that are ready for the academic rigor then I have no problem with itt. I only have a problem when they use these minorities as tokens...it's not good for them or for the school.

fancy way of saying you are buying a more expensive peer group
A peer group where the kids get dunk on shampagne instead of beer

Either way, reminded me of the way the people used to justify segragation in the south

Segregation has it's advantages. Why is it that they have different learning groups in school? Teaching to like minded individuals is easier and less stressful for everyone involved....but if you want your kids to be with average joes then send them to public school. And good to know that you favor using people as tokens. What a way to build up someone's self esteem. Everytime you see a person of color in a high position you'll assume that it was thru affirmitive action.

Above poster: Your thought process reflects a less than average mental acuity. It is a blend of ignorance, racism and lack of ability to apply the scientific process. You also seem to have no comprehension of genetics and one wonders if you EVER took a statistics class.

Yes, people do segregate themselves by income in terms of housing. Therefore, in some public school districts, depending on the degree of political gerrymandering, you will have all Republican voters in one public school district. THAT is public school. Private school, on the other hand, pulls from several counties. As your views place you firmly outside the beltway , if not the East Coast entirely, let me inform you: DC Private schools pull their applicant pool form DC, The Northern suburbs of VA and Montgomery and PG county,MD. This geographic area has some of the most highly educated people in the country and many are of a multitude of races. Many are ambassadors, world bank and IMF families, or royalty with homes in Washington. These are a group of people who have demonstrated success in relating to others of different view points, cultures and upbringings. In Washington, not too many people cling to "like minds".

That being said intelligence tend to spring up wherever it wants, is a great equalizer, and just like with athletic talent , Private school seek it out and try to attract it with FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why give out any FA if the Big 3 schools can fill their Pre-K and K class with qualified applicants (99+ % WPPSI, Full Pay)?

Because they can't , because not enough really smart kids exist, despite the game face on this forum.I know because my DC did score that high an dI know how he compares to his 70 or so classmates after all these years. I have also been shown his stanine scores as compared to rest of school. A 99th% kid is top 5% of his/her class. Now, where do you get the remaining 95% of the class from? Recruit them with FA.

Secondly, first and foremost, Private schools have to raise money because they get no Fed/State funding and many have endowments far below the minimum required amount : 4 X their yearly operating budget.They raise money by admitting the children of the wealthy that may be reasonably intelligent, but by no means brilliant. Their parents are ever so greatful and understand that it is their role to give $$$$$

Thirdly, Private Schools are all fund raising machines and if they did not give away some of what they raise in the form of FA, that money would be taxed and taxed SIGNIFICANTLY. The only shelter Private schools have for their money under non-profit status is : teacher and admin. salaries AND FA. They don't give to be nice, or to level the playing field , they give FA to balance their books. They only give it to smart or athletically talented kids who cannot pay full freight becuase they fully intend to get something out of those kids. There is no "free lunch"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why give out any FA if the Big 3 schools can fill their Pre-K and K class with qualified applicants (99+ % WPPSI, Full Pay)?

Because they can't , because not enough really smart kids exist, despite the game face on this forum.I know because my DC did score that high an dI know how he compares to his 70 or so classmates after all these years. I have also been shown his stanine scores as compared to rest of school. A 99th% kid is top 5% of his/her class. Now, where do you get the remaining 95% of the class from? Recruit them with FA.

Secondly, first and foremost, Private schools have to raise money because they get no Fed/State funding and many have endowments far below the minimum required amount : 4 X their yearly operating budget.They raise money by admitting the children of the wealthy that may be reasonably intelligent, but by no means brilliant. Their parents are ever so greatful and understand that it is their role to give $$$$$

Thirdly, Private Schools are all fund raising machines and if they did not give away some of what they raise in the form of FA, that money would be taxed and taxed SIGNIFICANTLY. The only shelter Private schools have for their money under non-profit status is : teacher and admin. salaries AND FA. They don't give to be nice, or to level the playing field , they give FA to balance their books. They only give it to smart or athletically talented kids who cannot pay full freight becuase they fully intend to get something out of those kids. There is no "free lunch"

Most schools claim that 18-25% of their student body receives FA. The majority of kids in a pre-k/k class aren't FA recruits.

I know several families who receive substantial FA and their children are of average intelligence and only okay athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not arguing that the old money person isn't upper class. And if you want to make a distinction between old money and new money, then fine, make it and call 2 million a year lawyer (whom I believe you just changed into a doctor making 1.8 million, but whatever) nouveau riche. But to call a person who is spending 110K (more than the HHI for over 85% of the US) a year on tuition alone "middle" anything is ludicrous. DC or not. Top 1% of earners has a lower boundary around 400K a year, so your example person is only in the "middle" of the top 1%. Even by the extremely broad definition Gilbert gives to upper middle class your person doesn't fit. For all the complaints about FA recipient entitlement, there sure seems to be a lot of class entitlement from posters in the upper strata of earners that is equally offensive.

To put it simply:

poverty in DC: family of four w/ HHI under 35K

working class in DC: HHI 35k to 75K

Middle class in DC: HHI 75K single, 120k-200k family of four

Upper Middle Class: indiv. income or HHI above 200K- up to level of Upper Class

Upper Class:


New money may be A LOT of money, millions, but if you work for it, made it yourself, you are not Upper Class, you might be "rich" but you will never be upper class, ypur kids maybe provided that you invest well.
Income not based on earnings from own work, but from inherited wealth: land, dividend, trusts, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why give out any FA if the Big 3 schools can fill their Pre-K and K class with qualified applicants (99+ % WPPSI, Full Pay)?

Because they can't , because not enough really smart kids exist, despite the game face on this forum.I know because my DC did score that high an dI know how he compares to his 70 or so classmates after all these years. I have also been shown his stanine scores as compared to rest of school. A 99th% kid is top 5% of his/her class. Now, where do you get the remaining 95% of the class from? Recruit them with FA.

Secondly, first and foremost, Private schools have to raise money because they get no Fed/State funding and many have endowments far below the minimum required amount : 4 X their yearly operating budget.They raise money by admitting the children of the wealthy that may be reasonably intelligent, but by no means brilliant. Their parents are ever so greatful and understand that it is their role to give $$$$$

Thirdly, Private Schools are all fund raising machines and if they did not give away some of what they raise in the form of FA, that money would be taxed and taxed SIGNIFICANTLY. The only shelter Private schools have for their money under non-profit status is : teacher and admin. salaries AND FA. They don't give to be nice, or to level the playing field , they give FA to balance their books. They only give it to smart or athletically talented kids who cannot pay full freight becuase they fully intend to get something out of those kids. There is no "free lunch"

Most schools claim that 18-25% of their student body receives FA. The majority of kids in a pre-k/k class aren't FA recruits.

I know several families who receive substantial FA and their children are of average intelligence and only okay athletes.


Dc receives FA and after all these years I know who the other families are who receive FA : smart kids and minorities( sometimes one and the same child, but some times not) and the school is getting something back from both of these types of kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why give out any FA if the Big 3 schools can fill their Pre-K and K class with qualified applicants (99+ % WPPSI, Full Pay)?

Because they can't , because not enough really smart kids exist, despite the game face on this forum.I know because my DC did score that high an dI know how he compares to his 70 or so classmates after all these years. I have also been shown his stanine scores as compared to rest of school. A 99th% kid is top 5% of his/her class. Now, where do you get the remaining 95% of the class from? Recruit them with FA.

Secondly, first and foremost, Private schools have to raise money because they get no Fed/State funding and many have endowments far below the minimum required amount : 4 X their yearly operating budget.They raise money by admitting the children of the wealthy that may be reasonably intelligent, but by no means brilliant. Their parents are ever so greatful and understand that it is their role to give $$$$$

Thirdly, Private Schools are all fund raising machines and if they did not give away some of what they raise in the form of FA, that money would be taxed and taxed SIGNIFICANTLY. The only shelter Private schools have for their money under non-profit status is : teacher and admin. salaries AND FA. They don't give to be nice, or to level the playing field , they give FA to balance their books. They only give it to smart or athletically talented kids who cannot pay full freight becuase they fully intend to get something out of those kids. There is no "free lunch"

Most schools claim that 18-25% of their student body receives FA. The majority of kids in a pre-k/k class aren't FA recruits.

I know several families who receive substantial FA and their children are of average intelligence and only okay athletes.


Dc receives FA and after all these years I know who the other families are who receive FA : smart kids and minorities( sometimes one and the same child, but some times not) and the school is getting something back from both of these types of kids

Actually, my response wasn't referring to the families of minority children who are receiving FA.