Thomson Elementary

[Anonymous]

^sorry, typing on my phone & messed up the quotes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think foreign languages are great.

But seriously, why should that be a priority for a struggling school system? I don't get adding Chinese to a struggling school.

Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.

okay, that makes more sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's only Chinese language instruction, not immersion. And it's not frequent enough to make a difference.

So typical DC "it's only instruction". Well, join the PTA and make difference.

I think foreign languages are great.

But seriously, why should that be a priority for a struggling school system? I don't get adding Chinese to a struggling school.

Well, lets see - there are 3 (used to be 4) buildings dedicated to Chinese families in Chinatown/MVT. The MVT Chinese families are all sent to Thompson (vs Walker Jones) because Walker Jones deals with poverty and ELL-Spanish and Thompson deals with poverty and ELL-Chinese. Don't want to mix the two, and complete ignore the boundary issues of 6th street.

Now that the neighborhood is changing and higher SES families are moving in, they want Thompson as a school because it offers a Chinese language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think foreign languages are great.

But seriously, why should that be a priority for a struggling school system? I don't get adding Chinese to a struggling school.

Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.

The Chinese who actually attend Thompson don't take Chinese language lessons, most are ESL. Most are taking English.

Typically of course, DCPS hasn't factored in that several speak Cantonese as their primary language, but so be it.

[Anonymous]

Cantonese is different from Mandarin, but uses the same characters. Part of the reason DCPS does Mandarin is because it gets supports from the Chinese embassy for Mandarin. All schools in DCPS that teach Chinese, teach Mandarin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cantonese is different from Mandarin, but uses the same characters. Part of the reason DCPS does Mandarin is because it gets supports from the Chinese embassy for Mandarin. All schools in DCPS that teach Chinese, teach Mandarin.

That's like saying Spanish and German use the same letters.

Have you ever tried to speak Mandarin with someone who speaks Cantonese?

[Anonymous]

Spanish/German isn't a good analogy. It's more like all the words are spelled the same, but pronounced wildly differently.

Are there any stats on the Mandarin/Cantonese breakdown in the District? I know I see a ton of ROC flags at the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown, so I thought the community was mostly Mandarin speakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think foreign languages are great.

But seriously, why should that be a priority for a struggling school system? I don't get adding Chinese to a struggling school.

Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.

You know what is amusing? Thomson has only ~20 more Chinese kids than Murch does (65 vs 46). You know, "not diverse" Murch in the "quasi suburbs," as pp so sneeringly put it.

The clueless self-styled urban pioneers from minnesota should be required to ride their Capital Bikeshare bikes uptown at least once for a genuine look around before using that trite description ever again.

[Anonymous]

Agreed about the urban pioneers, get off your high horse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.

You know what is amusing? Thomson has only ~20 more Chinese kids than Murch does (65 vs 46). You know, "not diverse" Murch in the "quasi suburbs," as pp so sneeringly put it.

The clueless self-styled urban pioneers from minnesota should be required to ride their Capital Bikeshare bikes uptown at least once for a genuine look around before using that trite description ever again.

I'm not the PP who said anything about Murch. (Nor am I from Minnesota -- DC native here, born & bred. I'll cop to riding a Capital Bikeshare bike once or twice.) But I do think it's worth noting Murch is a much larger school -- almost twice the population of Thomson -- so it's only 8% Asian (per current DCPS stats), while Thomson is 20% Asian. That means most classrooms at Murch probably only have one or two Asian faces, while most classrooms at Thomson probably have four or five.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.

You know what is amusing? Thomson has only ~20 more Chinese kids than Murch does (65 vs 46). You know, "not diverse" Murch in the "quasi suburbs," as pp so sneeringly put it.

The clueless self-styled urban pioneers from minnesota should be required to ride their Capital Bikeshare bikes uptown at least once for a genuine look around before using that trite description ever again.

I'm not the PP who said anything about Murch. (Nor am I from Minnesota -- DC native here, born & bred. I'll cop to riding a Capital Bikeshare bike once or twice.) But I do think it's worth noting Murch is a much larger school -- almost twice the population of Thomson -- so it's only 8% Asian (per current DCPS stats), while Thomson is 20% Asian. That means most classrooms at Murch probably only have one or two Asian faces, while most classrooms at Thomson probably have four or five.

Also not the Murch poster, and I've lived in DC for 30 years but can't speak to upper NW. I can speak to my neighborhood and the populations of people living there. I don't know why it has to be a "mine is good so yours must be bad"

I hope the best for Murch and ALL DC schhols, but can only expend enough energy on my school. If it makes you feel better to put down others so be it.

Happy Holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thomson has had Chinese for a while -- its not a new addition. The school is in an area that has a relatively high (for DC) concentration of Chinese residents, and I'm pretty sure the school has a higher percentage of Asian (likely Chinese) students than any other DCPS. I suspect the Chinese instruction (limited though it is) helps retain those Asian students, who as a group perform better on DC-CAS than most of the other students.

You know what is amusing? Thomson has only ~20 more Chinese kids than Murch does (65 vs 46). You know, "not diverse" Murch in the "quasi suburbs," as pp so sneeringly put it.

The clueless self-styled urban pioneers from minnesota should be required to ride their Capital Bikeshare bikes uptown at least once for a genuine look around before using that trite description ever again.

I'm not the PP who said anything about Murch. (Nor am I from Minnesota -- DC native here, born & bred. I'll cop to riding a Capital Bikeshare bike once or twice.) But I do think it's worth noting Murch is a much larger school -- almost twice the population of Thomson -- so it's only 8% Asian (per current DCPS stats), while Thomson is 20% Asian. That means most classrooms at Murch probably only have one or two Asian faces, while most classrooms at Thomson probably have four or five.

Also not the Murch poster, and I've lived in DC for 30 years but can't speak to upper NW. I can speak to my neighborhood and the populations of people living there. I don't know why it has to be a "mine is good so yours must be bad"

I hope the best for Murch and ALL DC schhols, but can only expend enough energy on my school. If it makes you feel better to put down others so be it.

Happy Holidays.

Thank you PP! Am DC native also and agree that there are many wonderful neighborhoods and people on these threads probably have a ton in common and might like one another if they met in a social situation. Check the vitriol at the door to have more productive conversations people! If you have lived in 4-5 neighborhoods in DC, which cliche should you be put into?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't say Thomson is a struggling school. It is classified as rising and has great scores considering the number of ELL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't say Thomson is a struggling school. It is classified as rising and has great scores considering the number of ELL students.

I was looking at Thomson closely as an option for my DS. If you look at the breakdown based on race, there is a large gap between the Asian students and the non-Asian students, particularly Hispanic. This tells me that the school doesn't have anything to do with the great schools. The school's being carried by the Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

Well, please feel free to be on a waitlist elsewhere. We have plenty of eager parents of diverse backgrounds waiting to get into Thompson.