Which DMV middle and high schools are best integrated?

[Anonymous]

We chose Richard Montgomery cluster in Rockville for its diversity, in race as well as ses. It's near a metro stop. And it also has IB program, and the MS Julius West is the first MS in the country (I think) to be have the IB MYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We'd really like our kids to attend a diverse middle and then high school, but ones where kids of different races actually become friends and learn to respect each other. All the videos and online slideshows I see of schools in MoCo, Arlington, etc., indicate there's segregation, and I think that's almost worse than attending a more homogeneous school since it teaches kids to discriminate from an early age. Anyone got any ideas?

Segregation? You mean students in the proportion of the general population? If you want every race equally represented , it would be a disproportional representation vis- a- vis the census and would leave rhem with a skewed view of the populace. By integrated then, do you mean " sheltered "?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so you are looking for the magic school filled with magic negros? so your kids will grow to understand diversity in all its richness and grow up to be compassionate and caring just by association? .

OP here: Not sure what your angle is but why would I not want my children to have friends of different ethnicities (and nationalities and religions)? I am in a mixed race/religion/nationality family, and I grew up with kids from a wide range of backgrounds. Mixing with people who are not exactly like you is a far more interesting and rewarding way to go through life. You should try it.

Oh, bless your heart. You do realize these kids self-segretate at school, right?

Np. Kids do self-segregate based on culture, which is based on race. I didn't realize the big difference in culture based on race in this country until I had kids. My DC has friends of different races and he does things with them outside of school separately. I always ask why they don't all do things together and his response is "they are just different and like different things." I really think the only thing you can do is to teach your kids to respect differences and to judge people as individuals rather than based on stereotypes. Model tolerance at home, and your kids will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Look for a school in which no particular race is dominant. Montgomery Blair, Gaithersburg, etc have no majority race. But do accept that kids, like adults, self-segregate. And as one other poster alluded to, it really is a white privilege thing to want to obliterate those distinctions, because those distinctions are meaningful and part of what make each race and ethnicity unique, interesting, and special. So I would recommend not seeking a school in which everything is super integrated and "colorblind" but rather a school in which relationships are harmonious and respectful. It's okay that people find comfort in relationships with other people from the same racial or national background. You just don't want an environment where relationships across the races are hostile or not open to interracial relationships. FWIW, I'm a white parent in a cluster where there is no majority race. DD's friendships change and evolve but I can see she is free to hang out with whoever she wants, and that has meant various groups of white, Hispanic, and black kids, but generally there is a dominant race to each of the friend groups. That's okay, don't become the PC police about it.

DCUM isn't the best place to get advice about schools that aren't in Bethesda or Potomac (where diversity means that there are asians too). Take everything you read here about racial diversity in schools with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We'd really like our kids to attend a diverse middle and then high school, but ones where kids of different races actually become friends and learn to respect each other. All the videos and online slideshows I see of schools in MoCo, Arlington, etc., indicate there's segregation, and I think that's almost worse than attending a more homogeneous school since it teaches kids to discriminate from an early age. Anyone got any ideas?

Segregation? You mean students in the proportion of the general population? If you want every race equally represented , it would be a disproportional representation vis- a- vis the census and would leave rhem with a skewed view of the populace. By integrated then, do you mean " sheltered "?

Good point. That's what some AAs seem to look for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so you are looking for the magic school filled with magic negros? so your kids will grow to understand diversity in all its richness and grow up to be compassionate and caring just by association? .

OP here: Not sure what your angle is but why would I not want my children to have friends of different ethnicities (and nationalities and religions)? I am in a mixed race/religion/nationality family, and I grew up with kids from a wide range of backgrounds. Mixing with people who are not exactly like you is a far more interesting and rewarding way to go through life. You should try it.

It's also nice to have a strong culture of your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so you are looking for the magic school filled with magic negros? so your kids will grow to understand diversity in all its richness and grow up to be compassionate and caring just by association? .

OP here: Not sure what your angle is but why would I not want my children to have friends of different ethnicities (and nationalities and religions)? I am in a mixed race/religion/nationality family, and I grew up with kids from a wide range of backgrounds. Mixing with people who are not exactly like you is a far more interesting and rewarding way to go through life. You should try it.

Oh, bless your heart. You do realize these kids self-segretate at school, right?

Np. Kids do self-segregate based on culture, which is based on race. I didn't realize the big difference in culture based on race in this country until I had kids. My DC has friends of different races and he does things with them outside of school separately. I always ask why they don't all do things together and his response is "they are just different and like different things." I really think the only thing you can do is to teach your kids to respect differences and to judge people as individuals rather than based on stereotypes. Model tolerance at home, and your kids will be fine.

NP. *accept

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so you are looking for the magic school filled with magic negros? so your kids will grow to understand diversity in all its richness and grow up to be compassionate and caring just by association? .

OP here: Not sure what your angle is but why would I not want my children to have friends of different ethnicities (and nationalities and religions)? I am in a mixed race/religion/nationality family, and I grew up with kids from a wide range of backgrounds. Mixing with people who are not exactly like you is a far more interesting and rewarding way to go through life. You should try it.

Oh, bless your heart. You do realize these kids self-segretate at school, right?

Np. Kids do self-segregate based on culture, which is based on race. I didn't realize the big difference in culture based on race in this country until I had kids. My DC has friends of different races and he does things with them outside of school separately. I always ask why they don't all do things together and his response is "they are just different and like different things." I really think the only thing you can do is to teach your kids to respect differences and to judge people as individuals rather than based on stereotypes. Model tolerance at home, and your kids will be fine.

NP. *accept

Merriam-Webster: judge: to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so you are looking for the magic school filled with magic negros? so your kids will grow to understand diversity in all its richness and grow up to be compassionate and caring just by association? .

OP here: Not sure what your angle is but why would I not want my children to have friends of different ethnicities (and nationalities and religions)? I am in a mixed race/religion/nationality family, and I grew up with kids from a wide range of backgrounds. Mixing with people who are not exactly like you is a far more interesting and rewarding way to go through life. You should try it.

Oh, bless your heart. You do realize these kids self-segretate at school, right?

Np. Kids do self-segregate based on culture, which is based on race. I didn't realize the big difference in culture based on race in this country until I had kids. My DC has friends of different races and he does things with them outside of school separately. I always ask why they don't all do things together and his response is "they are just different and like different things." I really think the only thing you can do is to teach your kids to respect differences and to judge people as individuals rather than based on stereotypes. Model tolerance at home, and your kids will be fine.

+1 to both of the posters above

Schools can look diverse statistically but that doesn't really have any bearing on who your kid will be friends with.

[Anonymous]

Takoma schools are diverse and provide great opportunity for academically inclined students.

You can easily look up the demographics of these schools on the MCPS website.

By subway Takoma is under 20 minutes from metro center.

Rather than write this myself reposting from another thread.

There are several good options in the county. Takoma schools seem terrific. They're also diverse and inclusive which at a time of rampant hate crime at many other schools is to its credit.

The elementary schools is a focus school that is they have reduced class sizes. The STEM magnet program provides additional enrichment. Because of the size of the grades of roughly 200 children they are able to provide differentiated and enriched math and reading above and beyond most other schools.

The middle school has a GS rating of 10. It also houses one of the county's STEM middle school magnets. Presently, in boundary students have a slight advantage since a few seats are reserved.

The high-school, Blair, as someone stated in another thread, has many of the county's top performers but also has its share of low performers. This impacts its GS rating, but it also has more students admitted to top universities than any other high-school in the county according to the data published in Bethesda magazine. Blair also has about 3X the number of national merit kids than any W.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?page=showrelease&id=4964
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/...cparticle=3&siarticle=2#artanc

[Anonymous]

For private... St. John's college high school

For public ... Quince orchard HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so you are looking for the magic school filled with magic negros? so your kids will grow to understand diversity in all its richness and grow up to be compassionate and caring just by association? .

OP here: Not sure what your angle is but why would I not want my children to have friends of different ethnicities (and nationalities and religions)? I am in a mixed race/religion/nationality family, and I grew up with kids from a wide range of backgrounds. Mixing with people who are not exactly like you is a far more interesting and rewarding way to go through life. You should try it.

Oh, bless your heart. You do realize these kids self-segretate at school, right?

Np. Kids do self-segregate based on culture, which is based on race. I didn't realize the big difference in culture based on race in this country until I had kids. My DC has friends of different races and he does things with them outside of school separately. I always ask why they don't all do things together and his response is "they are just different and like different things." I really think the only thing you can do is to teach your kids to respect differences and to judge people as individuals rather than based on stereotypes. Model tolerance at home, and your kids will be fine.

+1 to both of the posters above

Schools can look diverse statistically but that doesn't really have any bearing on who your kid will be friends with.

Maybe so but I'd still rather my child meet and learn with kids of all kinds of backgrounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We'd really like our kids to attend a diverse middle and then high school, but ones where kids of different races actually become friends and learn to respect each other. All the videos and online slideshows I see of schools in MoCo, Arlington, etc., indicate there's segregation, and I think that's almost worse than attending a more homogeneous school since it teaches kids to discriminate from an early age. Anyone got any ideas?

My idea is to stop seeing everything in terms of race.

What about diversity in SES, political views, language at home, geographic origin...

Well back in the real world, it means something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal in DC.

+1.

+1000. Now my son is at Wilson and I cannot believe how diverse it is. It's wonderful b/c my son has REAL friends of all different races.

[Anonymous]

DC first and foremost. Silver Spring. And Arlington just resegragated it's HS's--one has a PTA budget of 50k (few kid's on free/reduced lunch) and another has a budget of 15K (disproportionately free/reduced lunch)--you could take a stand and send your child to the integrated school that the Arlington whites are screwing. I would also look at Reston--south not north. They are pretty integrated. As for the people who are howling about self-segregation--it is called identity development. Take a class at your loacl community college and it will explain the dynamics you don't understand.