Since the Lafayette Thread was Removed

[Anonymous]

Who wants to live in Capitol hill and make their kids commute wotp? That doesn't seem child-friendly...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the implication of some comments seems to be that people EOTP are willing to directly share public resources and mix within schools with those who are poor and low-achieving, mostly black, sometimes Latino, while those WOTP are only OK if their group is a substantial cohort within a certain neighborhood/school. Well there are also certain charters, where probably the majority of EOTP upper class families have their kids, that are places where families of similar background cohort together rather than end up tiny minorities in schools full of poor students. So it's more complex than EOTP good, WOTP racist.

It's not racist to want your kids to be at a school where there is a strong cohort of others from a similar background. Studies have shown that nobody benefits when the low-achieving cohort is too strong.

So you're saying background amounts to just skin color? This drives me crazy. A black kid can't have same background as a white kid? What if their parents income is the same? What if the white kid is Irish-American? What if the white kid comes from Atheist family? What defines background?

Don't let yourself be driven crazy by something I didn't say. Where did I talk about skin color? "Similar background" usually refers to SES, and that's what I meant, because that is what primarily determines achievement, which is what I explicitly talked about. Now of course in DC SES and race are closely correlated, which is why people of higher SES who seek schools with a student population of higher (and in my case that means upper middle class) SES are often cast as racist, because they appear to prefer "white" schools. That this is not the case was the point of my post.

It's hard to ignore the racial implication when you could have said "It's not unreasonable...."

I could have, but I was directly responding to the PP's comment who had cited the often-made allegation that WOTP are racist. My point was that the desire to segregate to a certain degree is NOT about race. Which you completely missed by erroneously inferring that I was talking about skin color.

[Anonymous]

Yu-ying is only 12.7% FARMS and I'd say that factor--not Chinese--is the primary reason families choose it (I know because they have told me). So yes, we are all guilty no matter where we live (except me of course bc I chose an 80% FARMs bilingual school for my kid, but I had my reasons). In fact I was pretty shocked to see parents basically ranking their school choice based on FARMS rates. At the time WOTP schools didn't come into play bc it was for PK3, but many of those same parents added WOTP schools to their lottery lists this year for the same reason. (I live EOTP and am talking about my friends and neighbors.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the implication of some comments seems to be that people EOTP are willing to directly share public resources and mix within schools with those who are poor and low-achieving, mostly black, sometimes Latino, while those WOTP are only OK if their group is a substantial cohort within a certain neighborhood/school. Well there are also certain charters, where probably the majority of EOTP upper class families have their kids, that are places where families of similar background cohort together rather than end up tiny minorities in schools full of poor students. So it's more complex than EOTP good, WOTP racist.

It's not racist to want your kids to be at a school where there is a strong cohort of others from a similar background. Studies have shown that nobody benefits when the low-achieving cohort is too strong.

So you're saying background amounts to just skin color? This drives me crazy. A black kid can't have same background as a white kid? What if their parents income is the same? What if the white kid is Irish-American? What if the white kid comes from Atheist family? What defines background?

Don't let yourself be driven crazy by something I didn't say. Where did I talk about skin color? "Similar background" usually refers to SES, and that's what I meant, because that is what primarily determines achievement, which is what I explicitly talked about. Now of course in DC SES and race are closely correlated, which is why people of higher SES who seek schools with a student population of higher (and in my case that means upper middle class) SES are often cast as racist, because they appear to prefer "white" schools. That this is not the case was the point of my post.

It's hard to ignore the racial implication when you could have said "It's not unreasonable...."

I could have, but I was directly responding to the PP's comment who had cited the often-made allegation that WOTP are racist. My point was that the desire to segregate to a certain degree is NOT about race. Which you completely missed by erroneously inferring that I was talking about skin color.

I'm the first PP you quoted but not the 2nd, so clearly I wasn't the only one who read it that way. You seem pretty smart, enough to mean what you say and say what you mean....but you missed it on that one and are now backpedaling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the implication of some comments seems to be that people EOTP are willing to directly share public resources and mix within schools with those who are poor and low-achieving, mostly black, sometimes Latino, while those WOTP are only OK if their group is a substantial cohort within a certain neighborhood/school. Well there are also certain charters, where probably the majority of EOTP upper class families have their kids, that are places where families of similar background cohort together rather than end up tiny minorities in schools full of poor students. So it's more complex than EOTP good, WOTP racist.

It's not racist to want your kids to be at a school where there is a strong cohort of others from a similar background. Studies have shown that nobody benefits when the low-achieving cohort is too strong.

So you're saying background amounts to just skin color? This drives me crazy. A black kid can't have same background as a white kid? What if their parents income is the same? What if the white kid is Irish-American? What if the white kid comes from Atheist family? What defines background?

Don't let yourself be driven crazy by something I didn't say. Where did I talk about skin color? "Similar background" usually refers to SES, and that's what I meant, because that is what primarily determines achievement, which is what I explicitly talked about. Now of course in DC SES and race are closely correlated, which is why people of higher SES who seek schools with a student population of higher (and in my case that means upper middle class) SES are often cast as racist, because they appear to prefer "white" schools. That this is not the case was the point of my post.

It's hard to ignore the racial implication when you could have said "It's not unreasonable...."

I could have, but I was directly responding to the PP's comment who had cited the often-made allegation that WOTP are racist. My point was that the desire to segregate to a certain degree is NOT about race. Which you completely missed by erroneously inferring that I was talking about skin color.

I'm the first PP you quoted but not the 2nd, so clearly I wasn't the only one who read it that way. You seem pretty smart, enough to mean what you say and say what you mean....but you missed it on that one and are now backpedaling.

Just because two people read something into my statement that I didn't say doesn't prove that I said it. People often do that when the topic of racism comes up because they have reflexive reactions to the issue (see "This drives me crazy"). No need to backpedal from anything: "Similar background" refers to SES, "it's not racist" is a direct response to "So it's more complex than EOTP good, WOTP racist" (and I realize that this PP was merely quoting that allegation, not making it herself). My statement was maybe too brief for you to understand, but there is no way you can read "background equals skin color" into it, especially since I clearly mentioned the issue of "low achieving", which as we all know is correlated with SES more than anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of 8 families off the top of my head in Lafayette bounds who bought @ $350K. I can think of a dozen more who bought < or = $500K.

I can also think of a number of families who attend LEJ OOB and: bought a $700K-$2.5m homes in the last 5 years who live EOTP, .....

Now you had to go and make this all creepy.

Huh? If you bought through 1999 you paid ~$350K, if you bought by 2002 you paid ~$500K. It's not a secret. I said that because I saw $350K being thrown around up-thread, and while I didn't see the thread this is referring to, I'm reminding folks that not everyone bought in at $1m. Heck, we got priced out of Janney in 2000. I think a lot of people in the neighborhood did, so many people *sacrificed* in their own way.

Re the OOB, I follow RE and the boards here and know what home prices are in Shepherd Park, Crestwood, 16th Street, and Capitol Hill. Add in Petworth and more for $500K. I've had several friends move back, declare our house "too suburban," and buy $1m homes in Capitol Hill who now send kids WOTP OOB. Apologies for the $2.5m, as that is in Forest Hills, so the limo is only going so far.
.

Huh = you know the exact closing price of far, far too many of your "friends'" real estate. Your level of certainty and your interest in the possessions of others is weird.

I follow real estate too, and I suspect I've lived in DC (eotp and wotp) even longer than you have. With the exception of my two friends who bought on my block after I moved in (meaning, I saw their now-homes get listed and shown), I have NO idea what my dozens of friends and acquaintances paid at closing. I can guess that the ones who bought in Eckington paid less than the woman who bought a SFH on Woodley across from the Cathedral.

[Anonymous]

It is really easy to find the closing price of any property in DC via the Dept of Taxation's online real property database. All you need is an exact street address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is really easy to find the closing price of any property in DC via the Dept of Taxation's online real property database. All you need is an exact street address.

You can google an address and find it via Zillow too. Question is WHY are you doing his with all your friends? Stalk much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But the schools are better wotp, right? Isn't that the crux of the entire argument? That the original Lafayette thread OP was considering to enroll in a wotp school?

Define "better".

Average scores are higher - definitely.
Going to make a difference in my children's outcome? Less clear.

I'll agree. The test scores would concern me less than a potential peer group full of thugs and teen moms (not saying that's the case at your school, or at the majority of EOTP schools). On the other hand, WOTP one has to worry about a potential peer group full of entitled rich kids... You really can't win in this society where the socioeconomic divide is that extreme.

Another hip, entitled EOTPer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But the schools are better wotp, right? Isn't that the crux of the entire argument? That the original Lafayette thread OP was considering to enroll in a wotp school?

Define "better".

Average scores are higher - definitely.
Going to make a difference in my children's outcome? Less clear.

I'll agree. The test scores would concern me less than a potential peer group full of thugs and teen moms (not saying that's the case at your school, or at the majority of EOTP schools). On the other hand, WOTP one has to worry about a potential peer group full of entitled rich kids... You really can't win in this society where the socioeconomic divide is that extreme.

Another hip, entitled EOTPer

How did you come up with that conclusion? I live IB for Janney.