Is there an independent school that exposes children to non-European cultures and religions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op has said that any school that spends more than a year on US history is wrong for her, because there just isn't that much there in 200 years (sic) of the US' existence. I'm afraid that Oyster and Yu Ying probably get their US kids to study US history for at least a year.

an utterly absurd comment on the face of it as one could spend his/her entire professional life studying the Constitution alone. Her country probably doesn't have one so maybe that's not a big deal to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op has said that any school that spends more than a year on US history is wrong for her, because there just isn't that much there in 200 years (sic) of the US' existence. I'm afraid that Oyster and Yu Ying probably get their US kids to study US history for at least a year.

an utterly absurd comment on the face of it as one could spend his/her entire professional life studying the Constitution alone. Her country probably doesn't have one so maybe that's not a big deal to her.

An aside to the convo but I would think the Constitution is a big deal for someone who emigrated to the US from a country without one, esp if that person is a woman who also happens to be a minority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op has said that any school that spends more than a year on US history is wrong for her, because there just isn't that much there in 200 years (sic) of the US' existence. I'm afraid that Oyster and Yu Ying probably get their US kids to study US history for at least a year.

an utterly absurd comment on the face of it as one could spend his/her entire professional life studying the Constitution alone. Her country probably doesn't have one so maybe that's not a big deal to her.

OK, I'm on your side, but saying her country probably doesn't have a constitution just feeds the "you're all anti-foreign bigots" troll. I realize OP has offended you, but the "you're all bigots" troll is going to focus on this and not on the very legitimate grievances against OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8:38 - thanks for the effort. OP has said specifically that Latin America doesn't meet her criteria.

I don't assume OP is the only person interested in this issue. I was responding to 8:28's question, which I quoted and which contained no such criterion. I'm more interested in a discussion of curriculum than of OP and was hoping to steer things back in that direction.

8:38

[Anonymous]

Seriously, if her language is Hindi or Urdu, for example, why haven't the large local Indian and/or Pakistani expat communities in this area started a Hindi or Urdu private school, where kids can study that part of the world? Why does she expect US citizens to start one, and then tell us we're ignorant bigots because we haven't?

[Anonymous]

Because it's not just the kids of expat Indians and Pakistanis who should learn about India and Pakistan (and Africa, and the Middle East, and the rest of the world)?

Globalism is different than some other nation's nationalism.

[Anonymous]

OK, I'm completely in support of a multicultural education. but does it make sense to tell kids to learn about these countries or some other country in the context of a school that de-emphasizes other important countries, including Europe and the US and Latin America, as OP has requested? It looks like most of the indians and pakistanis don't agree, because they are trying to get into Sidwell, not trying to start their own niche schools. (Sone pakistanis may go to the VA Muslim school, though.)

Also, there are IB and foreign language programs in this area, as others have pointed out, but they tend to focus on the more widely spoken languages of areas where English is not already spoken by most (eg, India and Pakistan).

At these area schools, kids do indeed study Buddhism and Hinduism - my kid have studied both.

[Anonymous]

And please stop with the notion of 200 years of U.S. history. If you start from the European arrival in what is currently the USA, we're looking at the 1500s, so that is almost 500 years of history (yes, the Spanish got here before the English). Let's look further back to the Native American nations and it's even longer.

[Anonymous]

When I'm a guest in someone's home or country, I certainly don't criticize them. We in the US are chumps when we allow people who come here to laugh all the way to the bank while criticizing "how terrible" Americans are. GO HOME OP...study your own culture if you love it so much...why did you come here to begin with?

[Anonymous]

If only you were an equally gracious host....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm, a case of refusing to integrate into the host country. Many European countries are having this debate. DISCUSS, citing where appropriate, Chancellor Merkel, the British Muslim Council, and your own thoughts on the issue....

My personal take is that the reason there is no private school with a focus on her language is that there aren't enough people from her country to support said private school. However, the dearth of persons speaking her language who would support such a private school isn't really because US citizens are "ignorant," as she's posted several times. US schools with a multicultural bent tend to focus on the more widely-spoken foreign languages.

When I was in high school, German and French were offered. Just curious, but are these languages that WIDELY spoken?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, perhaps you don't realize that the tenor of your comments is what offends. When you post, there's an open, friendly and engaging way to post - and then there's your way, which involves words like "shocked", calling Americans ignorant, making Latin America a sloppy second to other non-western cultures (surely you are not African and Asian and south Asian all at the same time, so you definitely have preferences among the non-western areas).

Plus you confuse people with your combination of elitism (the schools you have toured thus far) and your opposition to the west.

Just food for thought. Clearly you aren't given to self-examination, though.

I didn't catch the post if OP identified herself as Hindu/Indian/Pakistani. Why are the later posts referencing that part of the world?

Anyway, OP can be all 3. Africa (East & South) has a diaspora of Indians whom the British transported to Africa as indentured servants 100-200+ years ago. So while a person can be ethnically Indian, if they have been born and bred in Africa, then you have African Asian Indians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm, a case of refusing to integrate into the host country.
When I was in high school, German and French were offered. Just curious, but are these languages that WIDELY spoken?

We had Spanish, too, back in the dark ages. I think the trend now is to drop certain languages like Italian (the college board folks dropped the Italian AP a few years ago) and German, and replace them with Spanish, Chinese and even Arabic or Japanese. Somebody who's not on a iPhone like me may want to google stats, but with these languages you get Latin America (except Brazil), parts of Europe, North Africa and, of course, China. I realize we're missing out on Urdu and Hindi, but from the point of view of US students, English is probably going to work in most business and tourist places.

Thinking about it, in any school which has mostly US kids, the smart choice is one of the languages mentioned above. Sure, India is a booming economy, but you don't need Hindi to work there, so you choose Chinese instead. If OP is looking for something like Tamil (I wish she'd tell us), it would have an even smaller constuency, plus my Tamil friend speaks English too. Choosing to study Spanish or chinese instead of seeking out a Hindi-immersion program doesn't mean you're ignorant or xenophobic, instead it means you've chosen to study a language spoken by many people who don't also speak English.

[Anonymous]

OP never addressed whether she's in the country legally and why she's here if she doesn't like America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are putting words in her mouth. There is nothing inconsistent about saying she likes a certain school but is hoping to find something that has a more non-western, global perspective.

So what do you think OP wants? It's completely obscure to me, and apparently to others here. You claim to understand her needs, so please explain the following:

1. Her desire for "elite" schools is backed up evidence she herself provided: the first four schools she chose to visit are Sidwell, Maret, GDS and Beauvoir. I honestly don't understand why she visits the schools that represent the most visible totems of western-oriented success (by some measures, not mine), knowing full well what she's going to find there, and then complains. Clearly she knows the school landscape, if she's choosing these schools. Can you explain her choices to me?

2. Why didn't she make her very first visits to some place like WIS or Oneness, instead, if she wants multicultural so much? From what I can tell from her posts, she has no plans to even visit WIS because it emphasizes spanish, which is a colonial language in latin america (tell that to El Che who spoke it), or something like that. And despite the repeated suggested that she look into Oneness, she hasn't bothered to ask follow-up questions that would indicate even the slightest interest in Oneness. Can you explain why she ignores these two schools?

3. I haven't heard a peep from OP that she's considering a public charter like Yu Ying which is chinese immersion, despite her protestations that she wants her kid to study Asian cultures. I can't fathom why. Some here would say it's because they're public. Can you provide an alternative explanation?

4. She wants an "elite" school that fails to train its students to do business in the US or Europe. Do you think that's actually reasonable, that it's a coherent desire that would sync with an viable business model?

5. Do you agree with OP that one year of US history is too much? Not only for Americans (because she says that not much happened in 200 years), but especially for her non-American kid?

6. Do you buy OP's story that her own school was wonderfully multicultural, instead of just another british-created school that gave her both her own culture (of course) and western civilization?

7. OP won't specify what language or culture is missing from the curricula she's investigated. How are we supposed to trust and help her, if she won't provide basic information to us? What language is she looking for then? Because you claim to understand her so well, please tell us how to help her.

I look forward to your answers. Please convince me that OP is not a whiner who is unhappy that her unrealistic expectations can't be met, so she takes out her frustration and hostility by calling Americans ignorant.

I seriously don't understand how her desire for a top notch, yet multicultural education offends you so much. Why did she mention the top-tier schools? Maybe she wants a quality education for her kids. Maybe she has never heard of Oneness Family School.

As far as Yu-Ying, sorry, but I don't think you can get a quality education there. Find out how many of the teachers are actually certified or have any teaching experience, how many students read on grade-level, etc.

Your other points are just wild accusations--show me where she said she wanted her kids to learn *not* how to do business internationally. I don't think she mentioned anything about "business" at all.

Why does she has to tell you specifically what culture she is from? Her request was very basic: A multicultural education, focusing on non-Western cultures, but a little more than just Latin American cultures.

I don't remember seeing a quote where she said "one year of am. history is too much." But again, not sure why you find that so offensive.

And yes, outside of the US there are many international, elite private schools, with an international focus and student body. There are several very good ones in Asia.