Why don't white students go to Banneker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say many qualified white students choose not to apply to Banneker because it's not a diverse school. At all. There's not much more to the issue than that, imo.

And once again we get to an issue raised in the TJ thread.

When white students are the majority of the school, minorities (blacks, latinos, Asians, etc) should just be quiet and 'put up with it'.

When a schools is 'too black' or 'too asian', whites take their ball and go home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say many qualified white students choose not to apply to Banneker because it's not a diverse school. At all. There's not much more to the issue than that, imo.

And once again we get to an issue raised in the TJ thread.

When white students are the majority of the school, minorities (blacks, latinos, Asians, etc) should just be quiet and 'put up with it'.

When a schools is 'too black' or 'too asian', whites take their ball and go home.

Try this. What is the demographic breakdown of a certain country called USA?

Hint: much closer to Janney than to Banneker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a topic that should be addressed in your piece – SAT scores. How does a selective admission school score below the national average on the SAT?

Below is data taken directly from the Banneker web site:
http://benjaminbanneker.k12.dc.us/about_bbahs.html

READING
DCPS 473
Banneker 496
National 496

MATH
DCPS 466
Banneker 506
National 514

WRITING
DCPS 461
Banneker 486

B/c scores don't tell you how smart the kid is, just how rich the parents were. God, haven't we been down this road with Banneker. It's an amazing school and the graduates go off to do amazing things.
National 488

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced that the black students at School Without Walls have lower SAT scores than those at Banneker.

They do across the country. There has been a push for Black and Latino students to take the ACT instead. Apparently, students of color do better on the ACT. My son happened to do better on the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a topic that should be addressed in your piece – SAT scores. How does a selective admission school score below the national average on the SAT?

Below is data taken directly from the Banneker web site:
http://benjaminbanneker.k12.dc.us/about_bbahs.html

READING
DCPS 473
Banneker 496
National 496

MATH
DCPS 466
Banneker 506
National 514



WRITING
DCPS 461
Banneker 486
National 488

Those Banneker scores seem surprisingly low. If true, well, that answers the reporter's question.

I was thinking the same thing. For a test in school, the scores aren't anything special. It would be helpful to compare them to Wilson and TJ in Va, a real test in school. As for parents not sending their white kids to a majority AA school, that really oversimplifies the issues. its that a white kid would likely be the ONLY white kid in the entire school. I would worry about bullying, exclusion etc if that were my kid. No one wants to be the ONLY. Most white parents have their elem kids in majority non white elem schools but parents worry less about elem. By middle and high school, parents with high achieving kids (And also likely higher income), know its time to really buckle down and get hard core into academics, IB, AP and honors. Also, middle and HS is when the really serious behvaviroal and violent issues start to play out as the kids get older. The challenges of very low income kids really becomes a different reality at that age.

There is NO bullying at Banneker. My son happened to befriend the only white kid there at the time. The kid loved Banneker. Unfortunately, both kids were asked to leave (as most boys are), but bullying was not the reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a topic that should be addressed in your piece – SAT scores. How does a selective admission school score below the national average on the SAT?

Below is data taken directly from the Banneker web site:
http://benjaminbanneker.k12.dc.us/about_bbahs.html

READING
DCPS 473
Banneker 496
National 496

MATH
DCPS 466
Banneker 506
National 514



WRITING
DCPS 461
Banneker 486
National 488

Those Banneker scores seem surprisingly low. If true, well, that answers the reporter's question.

I was thinking the same thing. For a test in school, the scores aren't anything special. It would be helpful to compare them to Wilson and TJ in Va, a real test in school. As for parents not sending their white kids to a majority AA school, that really oversimplifies the issues. its that a white kid would likely be the ONLY white kid in the entire school. I would worry about bullying, exclusion etc if that were my kid. No one wants to be the ONLY. Most white parents have their elem kids in majority non white elem schools but parents worry less about elem. By middle and high school, parents with high achieving kids (And also likely higher income), know its time to really buckle down and get hard core into academics, IB, AP and honors. Also, middle and HS is when the really serious behvaviroal and violent issues start to play out as the kids get older. The challenges of very low income kids really becomes a different reality at that age.

There is NO bullying at Banneker. My son happened to befriend the only white kid there at the time. The kid loved Banneker. Unfortunately, both kids were asked to leave (as most boys are), but bullying was not the reason.

Hey, you cannot leave it at that. Why were both boys asked to leave? And, is that truly a widespread problem with boys?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's socioeconomic too. Many of you do not seem to realize that there is a large contingent of high SES AA families that opt out of DCPS and charters after ES and go private.

So true! Most of my high SES AA friends, relatives, and myself included opt out of DCPS period. We all send our children to private schools.

We are a very high SES AA family in the District and chose Banneker. Quite frankly, Banneker college admissions are just kicking everyone's ass. Their kids do really really well. I am not impressed with most of the college admissions from many of our "private school" friends. They are not getting many advantages for spending that kind of money. If ivies impress you, Banneker is killing it. If MIT impresses you, Banneker is killing it!

My younger kid would not be able to keep up with the rigor of Banneker. He'll have to go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think geography plays into it. Wilson and Walls are in areas which are more likely to be familiar (and comfortable) to white DC residents. And though things are changing wrt where Whites live and work in DC, it hasn't yet hit the level of 'comfort' where people will send their teens to previously 'sketchy' areas

I agree that location plays a role. But it is just one of multiple factors. Let me reverse the question. Given the availability of great public options such as Wilson, Walls and others, why would white students choose to go to Banneker?

It's completely different than those mentioned. It's VERY small. It's intense and like a family. Wilson is huge. Walls is more progressive. Banneker is really for super smart kids who love to learn. Very few extra curricular activities so if your kid wants to do something other than read, wrong choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's socioeconomic too. Many of you do not seem to realize that there is a large contingent of high SES AA families that opt out of DCPS and charters after ES and go private.

So true! Most of my high SES AA friends, relatives, and myself included opt out of DCPS period. We all send our children to private schools.

We are a very high SES AA family in the District and chose Banneker. Quite frankly, Banneker college admissions are just kicking everyone's ass. Their kids do really really well. I am not impressed with most of the college admissions from many of our "private school" friends. They are not getting many advantages for spending that kind of money. If ivies impress you, Banneker is killing it. If MIT impresses you, Banneker is killing it!

My younger kid would not be able to keep up with the rigor of Banneker. He'll have to go private.

PP, we're a young AA family new to DC. We were planning on considering private later on, despite being zoned for Deal/Wilson--we're concerned about adequate rigor of instruction in DCPS. It would be pretty far down the line for us, but my interest is piqued in Banneker. Do you find you need to do any supplementing (e.g., tutoring) with your older child currently at Banneker?

I also have a coworker who is a Banneker graduate. She's super impressive--intelligent and poised. So another thing that made me take notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Banneker doesn't fare too well in the latest Challenge Index results. The school does OK at getting kids to take advanced classes, but only 27% of graduates actually pass an AP or IB, which is seriously underwhelming for a magnet-type school. Wilson does better as a neighborhood school with OOB students who effectively treat it as a magnet.

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/schools/2015/list/local/

But if it isn's stopping kids from getting into great colleges, does it matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's socioeconomic too. Many of you do not seem to realize that there is a large contingent of high SES AA families that opt out of DCPS and charters after ES and go private.

So true! Most of my high SES AA friends, relatives, and myself included opt out of DCPS period. We all send our children to private schools.

We are a very high SES AA family in the District and chose Banneker. Quite frankly, Banneker college admissions are just kicking everyone's ass. Their kids do really really well. I am not impressed with most of the college admissions from many of our "private school" friends. They are not getting many advantages for spending that kind of money. If ivies impress you, Banneker is killing it. If MIT impresses you, Banneker is killing it!

My younger kid would not be able to keep up with the rigor of Banneker. He'll have to go private.

PP, we're a young AA family new to DC. We were planning on considering private later on, despite being zoned for Deal/Wilson--we're concerned about adequate rigor of instruction in DCPS. It would be pretty far down the line for us, but my interest is piqued in Banneker. Do you find you need to do any supplementing (e.g., tutoring) with your older child currently at Banneker?

I also have a coworker who is a Banneker graduate. She's super impressive--intelligent and poised. So another thing that made me take notice.

Banneker is tough. Especially for boys. Definitely needed help keeping up. However, the teachers are really great and we received wonderful support from the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced that the black students at School Without Walls have lower SAT scores than those at Banneker.

Don't know about SAT scores, but black students at Banneker do have slightly better DC CAS scores than at Walls. Neither have any meaningful percentage who are below basic or basic, but Banneker has a majority of advanced students and Walls does not.

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say many qualified white students choose not to apply to Banneker because it's not a diverse school. At all. There's not much more to the issue than that, imo.

And once again we get to an issue raised in the TJ thread.

When white students are the majority of the school, minorities (blacks, latinos, Asians, etc) should just be quiet and 'put up with it'.

When a schools is 'too black' or 'too asian', whites take their ball and go home.

Try this. What is the demographic breakdown of a certain country called USA?

Hint: much closer to Janney than to Banneker.

Actually, the US doesn't look much like either Janney or Banneker.

White parents don't have to think about whether their children are internalizing anything negative about themselves if they don't see high achievers who look like them. Non white parents do have to think about this, and kids will internalize these negative messages. The science says so.

Interestingly, what white parents need to worry about is the fact that their kids may internalize racism. Studies show that this is almost inevitable, if parents don't discuss race, since children start to classify people into groups based on external criteria from a young age. Start with Po Bronson's "Nurture Shock" for a summary of the scientific literature on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say many qualified white students choose not to apply to Banneker because it's not a diverse school. At all. There's not much more to the issue than that, imo.

And once again we get to an issue raised in the TJ thread.

When white students are the majority of the school, minorities (blacks, latinos, Asians, etc) should just be quiet and 'put up with it'.

When a schools is 'too black' or 'too asian', whites take their ball and go home.

Sums it up right there, right there. However, in this case if whites don't want to apply to Banneker, as they can as the school is not race-specific, then it's there loss. It's not as if the school is suffering without them. This is another school that DCPS will meddle with and mess up soon!!!!

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain why Banneker is harder for the boys than girls. I have a boy, and Banneker is on my radar for future consideration. To be honest, I've heard the same comment about Washington Latin. Thanks.