School Design and White Families

[Anonymous]

I'm a white parent. Here's what I want:

1) A focus on challenging the more advanced kids as well as the kids who need remedial help.

2) A majority of schoolmates who come from families whose parents attended college.

3) A school where being "smart" is not considered to be uncool.

4) A significant amount of parent involvement/interest in the school.

5) Enrichment that includes science, art, languages and sports- on a daily or regular basis.

[Anonymous]

Take the Janney or Mann program as a template and replicate it as much as possible around the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We want a private school education for a public school price. We want EFFECTIVE TEACHERS and administrators that support them. We want rich academic offerings including foreign language, science, history, English, advanced math, extra help in literacy and math for those who need it - because it's not just minority kids that need help sometimes! We want our kids to look forward to school, to have friends of all races that strive toward a similar goal - success and happiness in whatever form that takes. We want rich extracurriculars on campus including but not limited to sports. We want an up-to-date, inspiring facility that makes students feel cherished, not neglected. We want aftercare run by professionals with competence and love. We want a school culture that rejects violence and honors learning, encourages the students and enforces safety in school. We do NOT want teens or grown people smoking blunts, discarding liquor bottles and using the N-word, even affectionately, as our preschoolers (or any other age student) walk past them on or near school grounds. And parents that aren't screaming profanities into their cellphone or at their kids at school pickup. We want the administration to understand that if there is a shooting next door to campus and the school goes into lockdown, we want to be notified, not have the incident dismissed because the attitude is that these things happen around here all too frequently. We want to smile and feel pride and satisfaction with what our kids are getting out of the school they attend.
Would be awesome if all DC neighborhood schools offered all that, but they don't.

I think most every middle and upper/middle class families (regardless of race) want all of this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We want a private school education for a public school price. We want EFFECTIVE TEACHERS and administrators that support them. We want rich academic offerings including foreign language, science, history, English, advanced math, extra help in literacy and math for those who need it - because it's not just minority kids that need help sometimes! We want our kids to look forward to school, to have friends of all races that strive toward a similar goal - success and happiness in whatever form that takes. We want rich extracurriculars on campus including but not limited to sports. We want an up-to-date, inspiring facility that makes students feel cherished, not neglected. We want aftercare run by professionals with competence and love. We want a school culture that rejects violence and honors learning, encourages the students and enforces safety in school. We do NOT want teens or grown people smoking blunts, discarding liquor bottles and using the N-word, even affectionately, as our preschoolers (or any other age student) walk past them on or near school grounds. And parents that aren't screaming profanities into their cellphone or at their kids at school pickup. We want the administration to understand that if there is a shooting next door to campus and the school goes into lockdown, we want to be notified, not have the incident dismissed because the attitude is that these things happen around here all too frequently. We want to smile and feel pride and satisfaction with what our kids are getting out of the school they attend.
Would be awesome if all DC neighborhood schools offered all that, but they don't.

So true. I may be my own special snowflake, but this is the stuff that has me walking away from the entrance before walking through the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take the Janney or Mann program as a template and replicate it as much as possible around the city.

This should read "Take the Janney or Mann demographics as a template and replicate it as much as possible around the city".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are a few ideas:

1. Strong girls sports, such as soccer, swimming, softball, and volleyball, not just basketball and bowling (seriously, this is offered in DCPS)

2. English/literature classes that don't JUST focus on authors of color, which must be the new way to supposedly get students of color to read. However,an sole focus on this can become off-putting to white students, as they are always in a bad light. There should be a variety of books read and discussed.

3. No social promotion in any grade. Nothing like accountability to get all students up to speed.

4. Foreign language classes daily.

I wanted to speak a bit to your second point.

I agree that variety is the spice of life. However, please keep in mind that it is helpful for kids to read things that they relate to. As a white parent, I am glad to see brown faces in the books my white daughter brings home. I am glad that the books she is reading in class reflect her life experiences and those of her friends. There are are more than enough books about blonde haired blue eyed girls. What books, specifically, do you believe put white students "in a bad light"? By "in a bad light" do you mean that the books address racism (a historical and contemporary reality that many students from various ethnic backgrounds experience)?

pp here -- I didn't say that they should only rad a books about "blonde haired blue eyed girls" (and really, what work of literature has that in the first place?), but I don't think that a steady diet of of only authors of color is right, either. Of course racism is to be discussed and understood, but not necessarily in EVERY book read by the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a white parent. Here's what I want:

1) A focus on challenging the more advanced kids as well as the kids who need remedial help.

2) A majority of schoolmates who come from families whose parents attended college.

3) A school where being "smart" is not considered to be uncool.

4) A significant amount of parent involvement/interest in the school.

5) Enrichment that includes science, art, languages and sports- on a daily or regular basis.

Hate to say it, but there is at least one middle school that has this, but it is a charter and is constantly under the gun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are a few ideas:

1. Strong girls sports, such as soccer, swimming, softball, and volleyball, not just basketball and bowling (seriously, this is offered in DCPS)

2. English/literature classes that don't JUST focus on authors of color, which must be the new way to supposedly get students of color to read. However,an sole focus on this can become off-putting to white students, as they are always in a bad light. There should be a variety of books read and discussed.

3. No social promotion in any grade. Nothing like accountability to get all students up to speed.

4. Foreign language classes daily.

I wanted to speak a bit to your second point.

I agree that variety is the spice of life. However, please keep in mind that it is helpful for kids to read things that they relate to. As a white parent, I am glad to see brown faces in the books my white daughter brings home. I am glad that the books she is reading in class reflect her life experiences and those of her friends. There are are more than enough books about blonde haired blue eyed girls. What books, specifically, do you believe put white students "in a bad light"? By "in a bad light" do you mean that the books address racism (a historical and contemporary reality that many students from various ethnic backgrounds experience)?

pp here -- I didn't say that they should only rad a books about "blonde haired blue eyed girls" (and really, what work of literature has that in the first place?), but I don't think that a steady diet of of only authors of color is right, either. Of course racism is to be discussed and understood, but not necessarily in EVERY book read by the class.

What books are you talking about, though? And at what age group?

[Anonymous]

I'm a white parent - and honestly, I don't care what white parents want.

I care what upper middle class parents want. I wish you could sort by SES of 150+

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are a few ideas:

1. Strong girls sports, such as soccer, swimming, softball, and volleyball, not just basketball and bowling (seriously, this is offered in DCPS)

2. English/literature classes that don't JUST focus on authors of color, which must be the new way to supposedly get students of color to read. However,an sole focus on this can become off-putting to white students, as they are always in a bad light. There should be a variety of books read and discussed.

3. No social promotion in any grade. Nothing like accountability to get all students up to speed.

4. Foreign language classes daily.

I wanted to speak a bit to your second point.

I agree that variety is the spice of life. However, please keep in mind that it is helpful for kids to read things that they relate to. As a white parent, I am glad to see brown faces in the books my white daughter brings home. I am glad that the books she is reading in class reflect her life experiences and those of her friends. There are are more than enough books about blonde haired blue eyed girls. What books, specifically, do you believe put white students "in a bad light"? By "in a bad light" do you mean that the books address racism (a historical and contemporary reality that many students from various ethnic backgrounds experience)?

pp here -- I didn't say that they should only rad a books about "blonde haired blue eyed girls" (and really, what work of literature has that in the first place?), but I don't think that a steady diet of of only authors of color is right, either. Of course racism is to be discussed and understood, but not necessarily in EVERY book read by the class.

What books are you talking about, though? And at what age group?

I'm not the PP, but there is a sensible sounding theory in education that children need both windows to look through and mirrors to see themselves reflected in the classroom. I'm guessing that this is what PP is getting at. A one-note diet of books, posters, heroes referenced, adult figures, politics (this comes up in college ) is not good for any student. Looking at what books are studied is pretty manageable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take the Janney or Mann program as a template and replicate it as much as possible around the city.

Or the Yu Ying or LAMB models, and replicate them around as much as possible around the city. Both are schools of choice, and they offer such appealing programming that they draw students from JKLM. If you want to create schools that appeal to higher SES families, then look to the schools that appeal to higher SES families so much that will leave their JKLM.

[Anonymous]

Less poors means better schools

[Anonymous]

Less poors means better schools

[Anonymous]

Less poors means better schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My child is at one of the charters on that chart of most diverse schools. It's not only white families who want "other white families" in their schools. Almost every middle class black and Hispanic parent I have spoken with has specifically mentioned the diversity of the school being important for their children. There's a lot of research about how richer black families live in much poorer neighborhoods than whites at the same income level. White families aren't the only ones who don't want their kids in classes dominated by children from low income homes and the problems that they bring with them (generally, of course not all).

This is exactly what I heard at our DCPS too. One mom said she was thrilled to see my son and me walk in the door (350 kids in the school, 3 are white). The principal herself said that her parents sent her to all-black schools growing up but she opted for a state university instead of an HBCU specifically because she wanted a more diverse experience.

Increasing opportunities for enrichment I think is key. The schools serve such a needed role as a social service for much of the city, but it's off-putting to parents who want advanced or creative offerings.