How is this area for East Asian families?

[Anonymous]

I think your family will find other Korean families easily, OP, and will make friends with people from all origins.

While on DCUM there are racist comments and dog whistles about Asians, test scores, robotic personalities and whatnot, and I have met a few people who make assumptions about my kids being good at math and music... my kids have never been bullied for looking Asian. They have made friends with kids of different ethnic origins, from all the continents except Antarctica

Please don't worry about it. Welcome to the DC area.

[Anonymous]

Korean American here. I also grew up as the token Asian most of my life. I find it odd that you need to come on here to ask this question when this area has a huge Asian population. Sure, it may not be 50% like SF. We live in McLean and my kid’s school is about 1/3 Asian.

[Anonymous]

very strange question and you are very naive

[Anonymous]

I think Asians are big category. I often see Asians hang out separately by their country of origin for whatever reasons, like Chinese, japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, indians, philipinos etc. They do not bully each other, but they do not mingle with each other. For white, I do see they are more often hang out together, like different European, Jewish or 2nd/3rd/4th so on local whites etc.. maybe they are more common in culture.

Overall, Asian dominated communities are more geared towards harmony and academic, so it is true that there are less bullying at school. That does not guarantee friendship, but at least they tend not like to start troubles or anything violence. Most Asian parents are more stressed on discipline and correction of their kids' behaviors.

I live in white dominated area. I would not say bullying, but as an Asian & a minority, it is challenging for my kids and me to break into the white communities at school. They probably see us as a weirdo, and I find them not tjat friendly but not to the point of bullying. They just do not want to do much with you. That is all. I know there are some areas in VA have tons of Koreans, but they are not in good school district. Overall, I think dmv is fine.

[Anonymous]

Join church. There are tons of korean/american church in nova

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Asians are big category. I often see Asians hang out separately by their country of origin for whatever reasons, like Chinese, japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, indians, philipinos etc. They do not bully each other, but they do not mingle with each other. For white, I do see they are more often hang out together, like different European, Jewish or 2nd/3rd/4th so on local whites etc.. maybe they are more common in culture.

Overall, Asian dominated communities are more geared towards harmony and academic, so it is true that there are less bullying at school. That does not guarantee friendship, but at least they tend not like to start troubles or anything violence. Most Asian parents are more stressed on discipline and correction of their kids' behaviors.

I live in white dominated area. I would not say bullying, but as an Asian & a minority, it is challenging for my kids and me to break into the white communities at school. They probably see us as a weirdo, and I find them not tjat friendly but not to the point of bullying. They just do not want to do much with you. That is all. I know there are some areas in VA have tons of Koreans, but they are not in good school district. Overall, I think dmv is fine.

I’m Asian American married to a different Asian American. We have friends from various backgrounds. We have a mixed ethnic background. My kids have white, Wasian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic and black friends. Maybe it is because my kids are mixed but they absolutely do not only hang out with one type of Asian.

Yes, Koreans from Korea may gravitate towards one another. Same with the Indians or Chinese. DH and I are the children of those immigrants and we hang out with everyone. I have more in common with a white American mom than a Chinese mom from China.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of Asians on the Maryland side of DC. Wootton High school in Rockville is also informally called Wonton High.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County has a Korean immersion program in some schools. As an Arlington resident, it's not available to you, but if you plan on moving within the region, it might be worth looking into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m Korean and immigrated to the US in middle school. I lived in the Midwest where I got viciously bullied for being the only Asian kid. Then my family moved to SF where my school was almost 50% Asian and felt like I fit in for the first time. I moved to Arlington a year ago with my Korean husband for work and we are now expecting. I want to have at least 2 kids and was wondering how is this area for Asian families? I know it is much more diverse and accepting here than the Midwest, but it still doesn’t have as many Asians as SF. I’m just worried my kids will grow up being bullied or feeling like outsiders here. The experience I had was traumatizing and I don’t want my kids to go through the same so was wondering if I should move back to SF or NY.

OP, seriously, you don't have anything to worry about. This area is not perfect but Asian kids being bullied/feeling like outsiders here is not something you need to concern about. You know kids are cruel and they will say things, but your kids will say/do the same thing to other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:East Asians are the aristocracy of Rockville

lol

I'm not sure if that's true, but certainly, Rockville has a ton of Asians.

For the most part, the DC area is pretty diverse, and if you live in a top rated school cluster, chances are, there are a lot of Asians there.

- Rockville resident, and Korean American and also used to live in the Bay Area.

My sibling ended up living in a small town in CT, and their kids were the only Asians there. And they hated it, too. I told DH that we are never doing that to our children, so we're sort of limited in where we can live.

[Anonymous]

Annandale has a lot of Korean-Americans. There are some Korean grocery stores.

This is not SFBA, but lots of E/SE Asians.

[Anonymous]

I am Asian and went to HS in Bethesda in the 90s. Tough times, honestly. My gym teacher made fun of my name in front of the whole class. My son is half Asian in a DCPS school with a very small Asian population but if you count half Asian kids the % increases by quite a bit. K pop, bubble tea, Pokémon, seaweed snacks - these are part of Gen Alpha's pop culture. It's not just a different geography, it's a different time, and that has really driven the experience I see my son having. Sometimes, I have to do a double take to reflect on the experience I had. It's a different time.

[Anonymous]

We live in Wootton school district in Rockville, MoCo. Tons of Asians here. My kid’s elementary school is majority Asian.

[Anonymous]

My kids are Indian-American. They are hanging out with other Indian-Americans (parents are from different regions of India, speaking different languages etc), Chinese Americans (from both China and Taiwan), lots of Korean-American kids, East European-American kids, WASP kids, Russian-American kids, African-Americans (origin from Africa and Caribbean)...mainly their cohort from the magnet programs...and they do not care where the kids come from.

Since their life revolves around academics, their is not much bullying that I have heard of. No one has the time for that.

[Anonymous]

My American born chinese kids do not speak or understand their heritage language. I always wonder if they care much or not about what races or cultural backgrounds the other kids are. To some chinese parents, my kids are too Americanized because my kids do not attend chinese language school like their kids do, and they do not speak or understand Mandarin chinese. My kids do not do academic enrichment, but they do a lot of sports and play a lot of video games. To some non Asian families, my kids are definitely Chinese because of their looks. They get along with most chinese kids because they tend to be more nicer but my kids sometimes find them a bit boring. They lead towards playing with non Asians kids because my kids find them more fun to play with but some kids act like jerk and mean.