Banneker v. Wilson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it absolutely has to do with racism. People think black and Hispanic kids just aren’t as gifted as white kids. There is always suspicion if a school has high minority attendance that those kids will somehow hold the brilliant white children back. This is pervasive among white parents in NWDC. I have mentioned my dc is going to apply to Banneker and I have had folks tell me that it is an inferior school. Honestly, I have dropped many friends over this. There are some really toxic aspects to folks in NWDC. My dc is in 6th grade and is planning on applying to Banneker.

Some...though I would pick McKinley over Bannekar any day. I didn't like Banneker at all. But I find the biggest factor in why kids go to Wilson (and Walls) over other options...transportation. Kids can walk to Wilson...metro to Walls. Banneker, McKinley all require commuting challenges so unless it is the perfect fit ...why? Plus, if your kid has gone to Deal they are used to big schools and tend to like them. Not all. And the breadth of classes is much better at Wilson.

You do know that kids travel from all over the city, not just NW, right? McKinley and Banneker are closer to many kids. Just not yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it absolutely has to do with racism. People think black and Hispanic kids just aren’t as gifted as white kids. There is always suspicion if a school has high minority attendance that those kids will somehow hold the brilliant white children back. This is pervasive among white parents in NWDC. I have mentioned my dc is going to apply to Banneker and I have had folks tell me that it is an inferior school. Honestly, I have dropped many friends over this. There are some really toxic aspects to folks in NWDC. My dc is in 6th grade and is planning on applying to Banneker.

+1 racism and refusal to own that this is their reason.

Every single time we go down this road someone will trot out the average SAT score of students at Banneker, which is lower than the average at SWW (but higher than Wilson) and cite it as evidence that Banneker isn't rigorous enough for their white kid. And yet, they will send their kids to Wilson without fear that the low SAT scores will rub off on their kid.

OTOH I wouldn't wish those families on Banneker either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it absolutely has to do with racism. People think black and Hispanic kids just aren’t as gifted as white kids. There is always suspicion if a school has high minority attendance that those kids will somehow hold the brilliant white children back. This is pervasive among white parents in NWDC. I have mentioned my dc is going to apply to Banneker and I have had folks tell me that it is an inferior school. Honestly, I have dropped many friends over this. There are some really toxic aspects to folks in NWDC. My dc is in 6th grade and is planning on applying to Banneker.

This may be the case for some, but I also think that if de facto it is an "HBHS" then that will affect white enrollment, just as it might at Howard. Maybe having more white kids attend isn't even desirable, if it serves its niche well? If it is desirable it should be part of the administration's goals and discussed in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it absolutely has to do with racism. People think black and Hispanic kids just aren’t as gifted as white kids. There is always suspicion if a school has high minority attendance that those kids will somehow hold the brilliant white children back. This is pervasive among white parents in NWDC. I have mentioned my dc is going to apply to Banneker and I have had folks tell me that it is an inferior school. Honestly, I have dropped many friends over this. There are some really toxic aspects to folks in NWDC. My dc is in 6th grade and is planning on applying to Banneker.

This may be the case for some, but I also think that if de facto it is an "HBHS" then that will affect white enrollment, just as it might at Howard. Maybe having more white kids attend isn't even desirable, if it serves its niche well? If it is desirable it should be part of the administration's goals and discussed in the community.

Nah, that would be way too nuanced and realistic. Why waive an opportunity to make all (overwhelmingly Democrat) white people in DC second-guess their values and character?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it absolutely has to do with racism. People think black and Hispanic kids just aren’t as gifted as white kids. There is always suspicion if a school has high minority attendance that those kids will somehow hold the brilliant white children back. This is pervasive among white parents in NWDC. I have mentioned my dc is going to apply to Banneker and I have had folks tell me that it is an inferior school. Honestly, I have dropped many friends over this. There are some really toxic aspects to folks in NWDC. My dc is in 6th grade and is planning on applying to Banneker.

This may be the case for some, but I also think that if de facto it is an "HBHS" then that will affect white enrollment, just as it might at Howard. Maybe having more white kids attend isn't even desirable, if it serves its niche well? If it is desirable it should be part of the administration's goals and discussed in the community.

What do you mean part of the administration’s goals?

[Anonymous]

The Bowser Administration's goal of expanding Banneker to, in part, take pressure off of Wilson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it absolutely has to do with racism. People think black and Hispanic kids just aren’t as gifted as white kids. There is always suspicion if a school has high minority attendance that those kids will somehow hold the brilliant white children back. This is pervasive among white parents in NWDC. I have mentioned my dc is going to apply to Banneker and I have had folks tell me that it is an inferior school. Honestly, I have dropped many friends over this. There are some really toxic aspects to folks in NWDC. My dc is in 6th grade and is planning on applying to Banneker.

This may be the case for some, but I also think that if de facto it is an "HBHS" then that will affect white enrollment, just as it might at Howard. Maybe having more white kids attend isn't even desirable, if it serves its niche well? If it is desirable it should be part of the administration's goals and discussed in the community.

What do you mean part of the administration’s goals?

DP. I think it means that Banneker has historically been geared toward kids who are first-generation college applicants, the majority of whom are AA, and would want the support that an HBCU provides. They are also probably wired toward schools that offer a substantial amount of aid for URM. That has become a strength but probably at the cost of trying to aim for a broader target of students. Mind you, people don't seem to care that SWW aims for Ivies, SLACs, and competitive public universities primarily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first moved to DC a couple of years ago, I was told that SWW and Banneker are the top DCPS high schools and that I should try to get my children into one of those schools when the time came. I assumed they had similar demographics. Last year, I found out that it was not so. Banneker, which is obviously an excellent school judging from the scores, is 99% minority. I am black, so that doesn't change anything for me. I am wondering if white students would rather not go to a majority black/latino high school? For what it's worth, the white students are a minority at Wilson too. To PP, the sizes of the schools differ greatly, Wilson's facilities are newer (but there are some changes down the pike for Banneker's facilities as well), I believe the admission process is also different. A family friend's son attends and he says that it's extremely challenging and there's a lot of homework, but he believes he is receiving a stellar education.

There's been a lot of discussion about this over the years on DCUM, and I think that the lack of white kids at Banneker is due to a couple of factors. This includes racism, in the form of whites being intimidated to be an extreme minority. But a little more complexly, I think it also involves a degree of white privilege, with white parents actually not thinking their kids "need" to do the really hard work at Banneker, because they'll be "just fine" at Wilson. Seen from a different angle, white parents in DC have different paths to push their kids forward, without having to do the awkward work of integration and a punishing amount of homework. Basically very similar to the reasons they turn their noses up at KIPP. Lastly, I do think Banneker is basically and HBCU high school, and my guess is the school culture there just doesn't go out of its way to try to accommodate the worries of white families. I don't get the sense it's an open door there laying down the red carpet for the exaggerated amount of hand-holding white families might demand. (Which, I don't really have an issue with myself.)

^^ apologies for the word salad. the internet has destroyed my prose.

I understand that the bolded statements, which can only be harsh caricatures of your worst projections on white parents' thoughts (they're not the result of a survey), are seen as progressive pragmatic woke awareness and activism. This horrifies me. I used to identify with that, progressive, pragmatic, aware and a wannabe activist, before the word woke existed. Now I'm just disgusted by posts like this.

Not wanting to be the extreme minority isn't racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first moved to DC a couple of years ago, I was told that SWW and Banneker are the top DCPS high schools and that I should try to get my children into one of those schools when the time came. I assumed they had similar demographics. Last year, I found out that it was not so. Banneker, which is obviously an excellent school judging from the scores, is 99% minority. I am black, so that doesn't change anything for me. I am wondering if white students would rather not go to a majority black/latino high school? For what it's worth, the white students are a minority at Wilson too. To PP, the sizes of the schools differ greatly, Wilson's facilities are newer (but there are some changes down the pike for Banneker's facilities as well), I believe the admission process is also different. A family friend's son attends and he says that it's extremely challenging and there's a lot of homework, but he believes he is receiving a stellar education.

There's been a lot of discussion about this over the years on DCUM, and I think that the lack of white kids at Banneker is due to a couple of factors. This includes racism, in the form of whites being intimidated to be an extreme minority. But a little more complexly, I think it also involves a degree of white privilege, with white parents actually not thinking their kids "need" to do the really hard work at Banneker, because they'll be "just fine" at Wilson. Seen from a different angle, white parents in DC have different paths to push their kids forward, without having to do the awkward work of integration and a punishing amount of homework. Basically very similar to the reasons they turn their noses up at KIPP. Lastly, I do think Banneker is basically and HBCU high school, and my guess is the school culture there just doesn't go out of its way to try to accommodate the worries of white families. I don't get the sense it's an open door there laying down the red carpet for the exaggerated amount of hand-holding white families might demand. (Which, I don't really have an issue with myself.)

^^ apologies for the word salad. the internet has destroyed my prose.

I understand that the bolded statements, which can only be harsh caricatures of your worst projections on white parents' thoughts (they're not the result of a survey), are seen as progressive pragmatic woke awareness and activism. This horrifies me. I used to identify with that, progressive, pragmatic, aware and a wannabe activist, before the word woke existed. Now I'm just disgusted by posts like this.

Not wanting to be the extreme minority isn't racism.

I have a child who is an extreme minority. It’s been overwhelmingly positive. I’m not sure why folks worry about it. I think they worry about their child being beaten up or held back, which in our experience has been the furthest from the truth. (FWIW, kid is in 5th grade)

[Anonymous]

How are the teachers at Banneker? Are they hit or miss like the other schools?

[Anonymous]

In STEM, Banneker offers AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Environmental Science and AP Stat. Their IB program only offers Biology at Higher Level and math studies at Standard Level. Math studies; is the lowest level of IB math offered, and it is geared toward kids who won't major in STEM in college. It is lower level math than AP Calc AB.

Wilson offers AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics (both parts), AP Calc AB and BC, AP Comp Sci, AP Environmental Science, and AP Stat. I think my STEM kid will be more at home at Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In STEM, Banneker offers AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Environmental Science and AP Stat. Their IB program only offers Biology at Higher Level and math studies at Standard Level. Math studies; is the lowest level of IB math offered, and it is geared toward kids who won't major in STEM in college. It is lower level math than AP Calc AB.

Wilson offers AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics (both parts), AP Calc AB and BC, AP Comp Sci, AP Environmental Science, and AP Stat. I think my STEM kid will be more at home at Wilson.

My nephew’s AP Chem at Wilson class had 48 students in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first moved to DC a couple of years ago, I was told that SWW and Banneker are the top DCPS high schools and that I should try to get my children into one of those schools when the time came. I assumed they had similar demographics. Last year, I found out that it was not so. Banneker, which is obviously an excellent school judging from the scores, is 99% minority. I am black, so that doesn't change anything for me. I am wondering if white students would rather not go to a majority black/latino high school? For what it's worth, the white students are a minority at Wilson too. To PP, the sizes of the schools differ greatly, Wilson's facilities are newer (but there are some changes down the pike for Banneker's facilities as well), I believe the admission process is also different. A family friend's son attends and he says that it's extremely challenging and there's a lot of homework, but he believes he is receiving a stellar education.

There's been a lot of discussion about this over the years on DCUM, and I think that the lack of white kids at Banneker is due to a couple of factors. This includes racism, in the form of whites being intimidated to be an extreme minority. But a little more complexly, I think it also involves a degree of white privilege, with white parents actually not thinking their kids "need" to do the really hard work at Banneker, because they'll be "just fine" at Wilson. Seen from a different angle, white parents in DC have different paths to push their kids forward, without having to do the awkward work of integration and a punishing amount of homework. Basically very similar to the reasons they turn their noses up at KIPP. Lastly, I do think Banneker is basically and HBCU high school, and my guess is the school culture there just doesn't go out of its way to try to accommodate the worries of white families. I don't get the sense it's an open door there laying down the red carpet for the exaggerated amount of hand-holding white families might demand. (Which, I don't really have an issue with myself.)

^^ apologies for the word salad. the internet has destroyed my prose.

I understand that the bolded statements, which can only be harsh caricatures of your worst projections on white parents' thoughts (they're not the result of a survey), are seen as progressive pragmatic woke awareness and activism. This horrifies me. I used to identify with that, progressive, pragmatic, aware and a wannabe activist, before the word woke existed. Now I'm just disgusted by posts like this.

Not wanting to be the extreme minority isn't racism.

huh? the bolded are extremely well known characteristics of UMC white parents in DC. You see it here on DCUM all the time -- "my white kid can go to any school and will be fine." and in some respects, that is a correct assessment of white privilege, and can have a positive effect because it makes parents less nervous about integrating schools. and yeah, we are helicoptery and expect school administration to "listen to our concerns."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first moved to DC a couple of years ago, I was told that SWW and Banneker are the top DCPS high schools and that I should try to get my children into one of those schools when the time came. I assumed they had similar demographics. Last year, I found out that it was not so. Banneker, which is obviously an excellent school judging from the scores, is 99% minority. I am black, so that doesn't change anything for me. I am wondering if white students would rather not go to a majority black/latino high school? For what it's worth, the white students are a minority at Wilson too. To PP, the sizes of the schools differ greatly, Wilson's facilities are newer (but there are some changes down the pike for Banneker's facilities as well), I believe the admission process is also different. A family friend's son attends and he says that it's extremely challenging and there's a lot of homework, but he believes he is receiving a stellar education.

There's been a lot of discussion about this over the years on DCUM, and I think that the lack of white kids at Banneker is due to a couple of factors. This includes racism, in the form of whites being intimidated to be an extreme minority. But a little more complexly, I think it also involves a degree of white privilege, with white parents actually not thinking their kids "need" to do the really hard work at Banneker, because they'll be "just fine" at Wilson. Seen from a different angle, white parents in DC have different paths to push their kids forward, without having to do the awkward work of integration and a punishing amount of homework. Basically very similar to the reasons they turn their noses up at KIPP. Lastly, I do think Banneker is basically and HBCU high school, and my guess is the school culture there just doesn't go out of its way to try to accommodate the worries of white families. I don't get the sense it's an open door there laying down the red carpet for the exaggerated amount of hand-holding white families might demand. (Which, I don't really have an issue with myself.)

^^ apologies for the word salad. the internet has destroyed my prose.

I understand that the bolded statements, which can only be harsh caricatures of your worst projections on white parents' thoughts (they're not the result of a survey), are seen as progressive pragmatic woke awareness and activism. This horrifies me. I used to identify with that, progressive, pragmatic, aware and a wannabe activist, before the word woke existed. Now I'm just disgusted by posts like this.

Not wanting to be the extreme minority isn't racism.

I have a child who is an extreme minority. It’s been overwhelmingly positive. I’m not sure why folks worry about it. I think they worry about their child being beaten up or held back, which in our experience has been the furthest from the truth. (FWIW, kid is in 5th grade)

Yep. Being unsure of how your kid will do as an extreme minority or nervous about the new situation is totally normal. But to say "Banneker is per se impossible for my child because it's only 1% white" is ... racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first moved to DC a couple of years ago, I was told that SWW and Banneker are the top DCPS high schools and that I should try to get my children into one of those schools when the time came. I assumed they had similar demographics. Last year, I found out that it was not so. Banneker, which is obviously an excellent school judging from the scores, is 99% minority. I am black, so that doesn't change anything for me. I am wondering if white students would rather not go to a majority black/latino high school? For what it's worth, the white students are a minority at Wilson too. To PP, the sizes of the schools differ greatly, Wilson's facilities are newer (but there are some changes down the pike for Banneker's facilities as well), I believe the admission process is also different. A family friend's son attends and he says that it's extremely challenging and there's a lot of homework, but he believes he is receiving a stellar education.

There's been a lot of discussion about this over the years on DCUM, and I think that the lack of white kids at Banneker is due to a couple of factors. This includes racism, in the form of whites being intimidated to be an extreme minority. But a little more complexly, I think it also involves a degree of white privilege, with white parents actually not thinking their kids "need" to do the really hard work at Banneker, because they'll be "just fine" at Wilson. Seen from a different angle, white parents in DC have different paths to push their kids forward, without having to do the awkward work of integration and a punishing amount of homework. Basically very similar to the reasons they turn their noses up at KIPP. Lastly, I do think Banneker is basically and HBCU high school, and my guess is the school culture there just doesn't go out of its way to try to accommodate the worries of white families. I don't get the sense it's an open door there laying down the red carpet for the exaggerated amount of hand-holding white families might demand. (Which, I don't really have an issue with myself.)

^^ apologies for the word salad. the internet has destroyed my prose.

I understand that the bolded statements, which can only be harsh caricatures of your worst projections on white parents' thoughts (they're not the result of a survey), are seen as progressive pragmatic woke awareness and activism. This horrifies me. I used to identify with that, progressive, pragmatic, aware and a wannabe activist, before the word woke existed. Now I'm just disgusted by posts like this.

Not wanting to be the extreme minority isn't racism.

huh? the bolded are extremely well known characteristics of UMC white parents in DC. You see it here on DCUM all the time -- "my white kid can go to any school and will be fine." and in some respects, that is a correct assessment of white privilege, and can have a positive effect because it makes parents less nervous about integrating schools. and yeah, we are helicoptery and expect school administration to "listen to our concerns."

Huh?? First, there is contradiction between the explanations you give. Second, those aren't "extremely well-known characteristics," they're unfounded stereotypes. Congratulations for endorsing and internalizing them.