What do you think about a Japanese Immersion Public Charter in Ward 7?

[Anonymous]

It's not a coincidence that the Immersion topic is being raised for ward 7 or even ward 8. In 10 years, ward 7 and 8 will not be the same. Big stuff is happening. Real Estate and renting is less expensive, Saint Elizabeth Campus project, Skyland Towne Center, projects popping up all over Benning Road. I think that Immersion is one way to attract new families into the District. You have all these thing. Affordable homes for new families, real shopping and entertainment centers, and finally schools that have a wonderful immersion program. The city is setting the stage for new folks to move right in. I don't think Spanish is a good option. If you want to attract new people, you need something to hook them in. Japanese and Korean are good options to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second Arabic over Japanese. Huge need.

True. The country needs analysts, linguists and agents in the war against Islamic terror.

Arabic is spoken by a minority of Muslims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not a coincidence that the Immersion topic is being raised for ward 7 or even ward 8. In 10 years, ward 7 and 8 will not be the same. Big stuff is happening. Real Estate and renting is less expensive, Saint Elizabeth Campus project, Skyland Towne Center, projects popping up all over Benning Road. I think that Immersion is one way to attract new families into the District. You have all these thing. Affordable homes for new families, real shopping and entertainment centers, and finally schools that have a wonderful immersion program. The city is setting the stage for new folks to move right in. I don't think Spanish is a good option. If you want to attract new people, you need something to hook them in. Japanese and Korean are good options to me.

+1! Korean is a good option, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not a coincidence that the Immersion topic is being raised for ward 7 or even ward 8. In 10 years, ward 7 and 8 will not be the same. Big stuff is happening. Real Estate and renting is less expensive, Saint Elizabeth Campus project, Skyland Towne Center, projects popping up all over Benning Road. I think that Immersion is one way to attract new families into the District. You have all these thing. Affordable homes for new families, real shopping and entertainment centers, and finally schools that have a wonderful immersion program. The city is setting the stage for new folks to move right in. I don't think Spanish is a good option. If you want to attract new people, you need something to hook them in. Japanese and Korean are good options to me.

If this is a charter school, the fact that it's located in Ward 7 will do absolutely nothing to make it accessible to Ward 7 residents. They'd be competing in the lottery with everyone else. You're making it sound like a neighborhood school and it just isn't.

If I was looking for a house in the city, I'd be looking for actual quality schools, not something that's offering a token exotic language with no real use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a coincidence that the Immersion topic is being raised for ward 7 or even ward 8. In 10 years, ward 7 and 8 will not be the same. Big stuff is happening. Real Estate and renting is less expensive, Saint Elizabeth Campus project, Skyland Towne Center, projects popping up all over Benning Road. I think that Immersion is one way to attract new families into the District. You have all these thing. Affordable homes for new families, real shopping and entertainment centers, and finally schools that have a wonderful immersion program. The city is setting the stage for new folks to move right in. I don't think Spanish is a good option. If you want to attract new people, you need something to hook them in. Japanese and Korean are good options to me.

If this is a charter school, the fact that it's located in Ward 7 will do absolutely nothing to make it accessible to Ward 7 residents. They'd be competing in the lottery with everyone else. You're making it sound like a neighborhood school and it just isn't.

If I was looking for a house in the city, I'd be looking for actual quality schools, not something that's offering a token exotic language with no real use.

Exactly, set up your school on your own dime and locate it wherever you want and good luck to you. A city public funded charter school that offers a language few people have requested in the community at large, that few teachers speak fluently and can also teach the content in, and that the founder does not even speak or has expressed that they've even got a passion for Japanese language and culture - this is just something plucked from the air. Set up a Japanese club and see how successful that is first.

[Anonymous]

12:24 and 15:03...

Do you even live in Ward 7 or 8?

[Anonymous]

OP PLEASE bring a French school to Ward7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a coincidence that the Immersion topic is being raised for ward 7 or even ward 8. In 10 years, ward 7 and 8 will not be the same. Big stuff is happening. Real Estate and renting is less expensive, Saint Elizabeth Campus project, Skyland Towne Center, projects popping up all over Benning Road. I think that Immersion is one way to attract new families into the District. You have all these thing. Affordable homes for new families, real shopping and entertainment centers, and finally schools that have a wonderful immersion program. The city is setting the stage for new folks to move right in. I don't think Spanish is a good option. If you want to attract new people, you need something to hook them in. Japanese and Korean are good options to me.

If this is a charter school, the fact that it's located in Ward 7 will do absolutely nothing to make it accessible to Ward 7 residents. They'd be competing in the lottery with everyone else. You're making it sound like a neighborhood school and it just isn't.

If I was looking for a house in the city, I'd be looking for actual quality schools, not something that's offering a token exotic language with no real use.

While I totally agree with your 2nd point, I think you're overestimating the number of non-Ward 7 parents who would shuttle their kids to Ward 7 every day. Even though there are absolutely parents who do the reverse shuttle (Wards 7 and 8 to other parts of DC), the incentive is arguably stronger because there are so few good schools in 7 and 8. But parents who have a more decent IB option (even if they're not excited about it all the way through 5th grade) are much less likely to compete to travel to Ward 7 for this, so most likely it WILL be much like a neighborhood school. At least in the beginning... after a couple of years a school that pics an actual in-demand language (like Mandarin or Spanish) might very well start to have a waitlist and not be as accessible by local families.

Just to be clear, it's all still about a lottery, but if only local families are picking the school because of its location, it becomes much like a neighborhood school. Until it's so popular it's not anymore.

[Anonymous]

It would be much more accessible to Ward 7 and 8 families than some of the other immersion charters, so that would be a plus. I think a French School would make more sense.

[Anonymous]

OP here..
The purpose of this thread should not serve as a launching pad for language politics. Every child should have the opportunity to acquire a second language. It is common for children in other countries to naturally acquire two or three languages at a early age. An example that comes to mind is the African context. From my observation, a person from the African continent learns their tribal language, their country's official language, and what other language acquired in school. Same observation from my European counterparts.

On the subject of the taxpayer's dollars issue, my taxes are supporting schools (traditional or public charter) that my children do not attend. I have no problem with tax dollars going to toward language immersion programs that I personally have no interest. I do have a problem with my tax money going toward wasteful projects.

And finally, 15:03, your implications of "the founder does not even speak or has expressed that they've even got a passion for Japanese language and culture - this is just something plucked from the air" is so totally clueless and laughable. I am not going to reveal who I am and what my capabilities are to an anonymous forum. I will say that Japanese may sound like a "nice to have language" or "exotic" but there were 12 DCPS high school students that were selected to participate in the U.S. Japan Youth Exchange Program, a two-way exchange involving high school students from DC public schools and from Japan. Keep in mind that these twelve students do not speak Japanese when they participated in this program. However, their Japanese counterparts DID have an English language requirement. These 12 students had the opportunity to travel to Japan for two weeks, however, with no Japanese language. Some food for thought.

[Anonymous]

This should happen. OP, ever tried convincing a neighborhood school in ward 7 or 8 to do this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here..
The purpose of this thread should not serve as a launching pad for language politics. Every child should have the opportunity to acquire a second language. It is common for children in other countries to naturally acquire two or three languages at a early age. An example that comes to mind is the African context. From my observation, a person from the African continent learns their tribal language, their country's official language, and what other language acquired in school. Same observation from my European counterparts.

On the subject of the taxpayer's dollars issue, my taxes are supporting schools (traditional or public charter) that my children do not attend. I have no problem with tax dollars going to toward language immersion programs that I personally have no interest. I do have a problem with my tax money going toward wasteful projects.

And finally, 15:03, your implications of "the founder does not even speak or has expressed that they've even got a passion for Japanese language and culture - this is just something plucked from the air" is so totally clueless and laughable. I am not going to reveal who I am and what my capabilities are to an anonymous forum. I will say that Japanese may sound like a "nice to have language" or "exotic" but there were 12 DCPS high school students that were selected to participate in the U.S. Japan Youth Exchange Program, a two-way exchange involving high school students from DC public schools and from Japan. Keep in mind that these twelve students do not speak Japanese when they participated in this program. However, their Japanese counterparts DID have an English language requirement. These 12 students had the opportunity to travel to Japan for two weeks, however, with no Japanese language. Some food for thought.

And ....

You haven't stated how you are qualified to set up a school, you still haven't expressed in any posts your passion or experience with the language, you got a lot of responses, which you asked for. As a ward 7 resident, this is not high on my list. I'm not against it but would prefer a focus on literacy, STEM, or a more useful language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This should happen. OP, ever tried convincing a neighborhood school in ward 7 or 8 to do this?

I cannot believe you revived this thread. Are you the OP?

I'll say what I said 4 months ago. This is a terrible, terrible idea. Open 2 spanish dual language schools EOTR and then let's discuss other languages.

[Anonymous]

OP here...Glad to see that the thread was revived by someone else. All this language immersion chatter makes the revival timely. I am doing lots of research and I'll say that I am hopeful in this endeavor. I wish we had something like this in DC, that would appeal to all of us. The following link is to a "dream" school located in North Carolina.

http://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/waddellHS/Pages/AboutOurSchool.aspx

[Anonymous]

I'm tired of people dogging Japanese. I see more opportunity learning Japanese than in any other language. Spanish is great to communicate with my neighbors or someone with a Latino business, but I don't see a future in it. I don't see my child growing up and going to Columbia just to sell coffee beans, because that is all they have to offer. Or some other country in Latin America who deals in sugar cane and bananas. No!! I want more options. I don't want French unless my child is going to be an arms dealer or in the wine or bread business. Japan is it!! China will be our enemy soon, and Korea will cave in when the North invades. No. Japan is a safe bet. Get angry. What car do you drive? What PC do you use? What TV do you have? Samsung? Okay. That's Korean, but my bet is that a lot of what you have is from Japan.