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Spin off. African American families, do you avoid schools with lots of FARMs minorities?
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Anonymous
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One thread mentioned the impact of a visible group of low income minority kids in a high income school, Churchill/Scotland comes to mind. If you are African American, well educated, and upper middle/middle class, would the set up at Churchill concern you? Do you feel that low income AA children (who might be underachieving) would have a negative impact on you kids?
I have seen some comments that imply that schools like Walter Johnson with many high achieving upper middle class black students are more attractive. The same question could be asked of well educated Hispanic families in similar situations. |
Anonymous
| No. Sad that these kids have been reduced to being FARMs minorities. What a defining characteristic to be judged upon. I was a 'FARM minority' and also one of the smartest in my class. In fact, school was a little too easy for me. I always felt as if I already knew what was being taught. So I spent many days going around helping all the other students with their work and being pulled out of class to work on projects for the school. Either that or reading novels the entire class. Not sure what my parents not making enough to afford full lunch had to do with how intelligent I am. I have no clue how many 'FARMs minorities' are at my daughters school. And I don't care. |
Anonymous
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As an 'AA' parent (I guess we'd be considered mid-high income) I just want my dc in a school environment where the majority of the kids are high academic achievers, w/support from their parents--whether they are black, white, brown, purple, orange...
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Anonymous
You are not the norm, PP. Most FARMs students come from homes where parents are working 2 or even 3 jobs just to pay rent. Oftentimes, they get mixed up with drugs and gang activity b/c they have very little home support. So as educators, we can choose to ignore the statistics and sing kumbaya, or we can be proactive by identifying these students who could potentially fall through the cracks.
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Anonymous
| What is a FARM minority? |
Anonymous
as near as I can figure it has something to do with not being able to afford lunch. |
Anonymous
| FARM=Free and Reduced Meals, or Free and Reduced Price Meals |
Anonymous
| I would like to point out that not all children who receive FARMs are minorities. The children who require this assistance are of ALL races. Poverty can affect anyone. |
Anonymous
| Since when does a child's need for help to purchase a school lunch become an adverrse criteria for attending a school (for other children ... or parents)? Some Americans are indeed bizarre. |
Anonymous
| No! FARMS does not equal uninvolved, unteachable, problem-child and all the other negative adjectives people like to place on these children. |
Anonymous
Yep, my home life was very difficult. Made no difference as to my intelligence. As a side note, I went to school with some very wealthy kids as well. They were just as bad as the kids you're trying to avoid! I distinctly remember a group of girls getting suspended for getting drunk at school. These were smart, AP students, that came from privileged homes. Where's the stat for that on the schools website? Regardless, your statement about identifying kids that might fall through the cracks isn't even close to the question posed by the OP. Your statement makes it seem like the purpose is to identify in order to help. In the OP it was about identifying in order to avoid. |
Anonymous
| You cite the Scotland neighborhood of the Churchill district specifically, but the kids of Scotland aren't what I would consider low income. They may feel low income relative to some of the affluence of their neighbors, but that is a solidly middle class neighborhood. So your question strikes me odd. |
Anonymous
| I'm caucasian, my DH and his family are well-to-do, highly educated South Americans. We both have graduate degrees and have professional jobs. Our kids go to a Fairfax County school that is 36% Limited English Proficiency, 42% receive Free/Reduced Lunch and is 44% Hispanic. We think our school is great and have no concerns about our kids going to that school. As involved parents, we know our kids will receive an excellent education and have amazing educational opportunities at whatever Fairfax County Public School they go to. I would much rather my kids interact with kids whose family work hard to provide for them than with kids who get everything handed to them. |
Anonymous
| This is a touchy subject, and I suspect that many people would pass on answering this question, even anonymously. |
Anonymous
I agree. I'm African American and have clicked on this thread a few times now without formulating a response. But the short answer is, no I do not avoid schools with lots of minorities that also receive FARMS. Giving a longer answer would be pretty involved - explaining why I don't and what caveats that might include - that may also be why many people pass on the question. |