Why so much hate with EOTP vs WOTP parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. we are looking in Barnaby Woods, American U area, and Portal Estates (zoned as Shepherd Park). I am saying my options of Lafayette, Shepherd, and Janney. All 3 filter into Deal.

All I have to contribute is Janney is really overcrowded

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster here (my kid attends a charter school). It is pretty sad when people are clearly making assertions about schools based on racial and SES status (saying Shepherd is not as good as Lafayette). To me, seeing the scores and demographics, I can safely assume that my high SES kid will get the same education at both schools. In fact, I think he may do better at a school like Shepherd that is IB, has economic diversity (but not too high), and smaller class sizes. If you look at the non FARM scores at each school, Shepherd does better than Lafayette. How could that be when most of Shepherd is black?!!! As PP noted, they have the same Great School rating, they both feed to Deal. I have to assume the people that are saying they are not equal are doing so because they are afraid of the demogroahics. As liberal as this town appears to be, once you pull back the thin layers, you see ugly southern roots heavily at play.

This is spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. we are looking in Barnaby Woods, American U area, and Portal Estates (zoned as Shepherd Park). I am saying my options of Lafayette, Shepherd, and Janney. All 3 filter into Deal.

All I have to contribute is Janney is really overcrowded

Isn't Lafayette overcrowded as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. we are looking in Barnaby Woods, American U area, and Portal Estates (zoned as Shepherd Park). I am saying my options of Lafayette, Shepherd, and Janney. All 3 filter into Deal.

All I have to contribute is Janney is really overcrowded

Isn't Lafayette overcrowded as well?

Not once their renovation is done

[Anonymous]

And I'm sure there are dozens of parents that can say your current charter is not "all that". Many that can give reasons why or just make blanket statements. I am at a HRCS that has under 20% FARM, most HRCS have similar farm make up. I would prefer a makeup like Shepherd (1/3).

That's nice. I'm not at that kind of charter. And I don't care what blanket statements others, like you, who have never sent their children to Shepherd, make.

I get it. You are afraid of FARMS. I don't understand why, and I don't really care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This whole thread was bait to begin with. But, reading it through, it's nice to learn that Shepherd seems to be roundly recognized -- by everyone! -- as one of the best neighborhood schools in the city.


No, all of us don't believe that to be true. I'm AA and I would not send my children to SP if I had a choice of any school WotP (except Hearst). I'm not interested in sending my children to high (by my standards) poverty schools. I love racial and cultural diversity, but I strongly prefer economic homogeneity (on the high end) in my children's school. I actively seek to avoid the social and academic distractions that children who come from impoverished backgrounds tend to bring into the classroom. Since this is an anonymous forum, I can be completely honest.

Shepherd's not that great, but I always get yelled at when I say that. The kids are nice. The teachers are nice. Everyone's trying. But there are issues.

For what it is worth though, snotty AA person, there's not a lot of "poor elements" at Shepherd. If anything, it suffers from the opposite end of the spectrum: entitled kids and entitled parents, who expect mountains to be moved for their every whim. That doesn't make it a bad place... that is, no worse than any other affluent school that has those kinds of social issues (and most do). So, if that's what you ARE looking for, I think you'd be right at home there.

I'm not African American. Maybe it's a white privilege thing--this being an anonymous board, maybe I can say that. Maybe it's a white privilege thing that makes me think that being from an impoverished background isn't contagious, that my kids can have poor friends and it won't rub off. Maybe it's the example of my grandparents, who were all pretty impoverished themselves, growing up in the 30's--or the lives they made for their kids, that were rather less impoverished. Maybe it's the fact that I spent most of my twenties and thirties living on almost nothing. Maybe I'm full of shit. But I believe really, really strongly in economic diversity in schools. It's why we sent our kids to public schools. It's why we picked Shepherd. (Which was a bad choice, for that.) All studies show: diversity is good for ALL kids.

It's why we're at a charter school now, which is ironically more diverse in all measures.

I don't have any opinions about Shepherd but +1 on your observation that white privilege likely explains the difference of opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And I'm sure there are dozens of parents that can say your current charter is not "all that". Many that can give reasons why or just make blanket statements. I am at a HRCS that has under 20% FARM, most HRCS have similar farm make up. I would prefer a makeup like Shepherd (1/3).

That's nice. I'm not at that kind of charter. And I don't care what blanket statements others, like you, who have never sent their children to Shepherd, make.

I get it. You are afraid of FARMS. I don't understand why, and I don't really care.

What part of "I wish my school had more FARMS" make you think I'm afraid of FARMS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This whole thread was bait to begin with. But, reading it through, it's nice to learn that Shepherd seems to be roundly recognized -- by everyone! -- as one of the best neighborhood schools in the city.


No, all of us don't believe that to be true. I'm AA and I would not send my children to SP if I had a choice of any school WotP (except Hearst). I'm not interested in sending my children to high (by my standards) poverty schools. I love racial and cultural diversity, but I strongly prefer economic homogeneity (on the high end) in my children's school. I actively seek to avoid the social and academic distractions that children who come from impoverished backgrounds tend to bring into the classroom. Since this is an anonymous forum, I can be completely honest.

Shepherd's not that great, but I always get yelled at when I say that. The kids are nice. The teachers are nice. Everyone's trying. But there are issues.

For what it is worth though, snotty AA person, there's not a lot of "poor elements" at Shepherd. If anything, it suffers from the opposite end of the spectrum: entitled kids and entitled parents, who expect mountains to be moved for their every whim. That doesn't make it a bad place... that is, no worse than any other affluent school that has those kinds of social issues (and most do). So, if that's what you ARE looking for, I think you'd be right at home there.

I'm not African American. Maybe it's a white privilege thing--this being an anonymous board, maybe I can say that. Maybe it's a white privilege thing that makes me think that being from an impoverished background isn't contagious, that my kids can have poor friends and it won't rub off. Maybe it's the example of my grandparents, who were all pretty impoverished themselves, growing up in the 30's--or the lives they made for their kids, that were rather less impoverished. Maybe it's the fact that I spent most of my twenties and thirties living on almost nothing. Maybe I'm full of shit. But I believe really, really strongly in economic diversity in schools. It's why we sent our kids to public schools. It's why we picked Shepherd. (Which was a bad choice, for that.) All studies show: diversity is good for ALL kids.

It's why we're at a charter school now, which is ironically more diverse in all measures.

I don't have any opinions about Shepherd but +1 on your observation that white privilege likely explains the difference of opinion.

+2. In my experience, educated AA/African families often use a different calculus when making decisions re: education than educated white families, as there are different issues to contend with. They tend to be more risk averse about schools with high proportions of low SES students. Most I know do not send their children to high FARMS schools if they can help it--concerns about peer influences, unfair treatment from teachers (who assume they're from poor/uneducated families like most of their peers), etc.

There are a smattering of such families that I know at schools like Eaton and Shepherd, but many move out to stronger school systems in MoCo or VA, or go private. A few neighbors and friends are at CMI, LAMB, ITS.

I was just discussing this with a friend this week--she joked that we (educated AAs) don't put our kids in predominantly low SES schools, since they already have several strikes against them right out of the gate. See this thread, which discusses this issue:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/484734.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This whole thread was bait to begin with. But, reading it through, it's nice to learn that Shepherd seems to be roundly recognized -- by everyone! -- as one of the best neighborhood schools in the city.


No, all of us don't believe that to be true. I'm AA and I would not send my children to SP if I had a choice of any school WotP (except Hearst). I'm not interested in sending my children to high (by my standards) poverty schools. I love racial and cultural diversity, but I strongly prefer economic homogeneity (on the high end) in my children's school. I actively seek to avoid the social and academic distractions that children who come from impoverished backgrounds tend to bring into the classroom. Since this is an anonymous forum, I can be completely honest.

Shepherd's not that great, but I always get yelled at when I say that. The kids are nice. The teachers are nice. Everyone's trying. But there are issues.

For what it is worth though, snotty AA person, there's not a lot of "poor elements" at Shepherd. If anything, it suffers from the opposite end of the spectrum: entitled kids and entitled parents, who expect mountains to be moved for their every whim. That doesn't make it a bad place... that is, no worse than any other affluent school that has those kinds of social issues (and most do). So, if that's what you ARE looking for, I think you'd be right at home there.

I'm not African American. Maybe it's a white privilege thing--this being an anonymous board, maybe I can say that. Maybe it's a white privilege thing that makes me think that being from an impoverished background isn't contagious, that my kids can have poor friends and it won't rub off. Maybe it's the example of my grandparents, who were all pretty impoverished themselves, growing up in the 30's--or the lives they made for their kids, that were rather less impoverished. Maybe it's the fact that I spent most of my twenties and thirties living on almost nothing. Maybe I'm full of shit. But I believe really, really strongly in economic diversity in schools. It's why we sent our kids to public schools. It's why we picked Shepherd. (Which was a bad choice, for that.) All studies show: diversity is good for ALL kids.

It's why we're at a charter school now, which is ironically more diverse in all measures.

I don't have any opinions about Shepherd but +1 on your observation that white privilege likely explains the difference of opinion.

+2. In my experience, educated AA/African families often use a different calculus when making decisions re: education than educated white families, as there are different issues to contend with. They tend to be more risk averse about schools with high proportions of low SES students. Most I know do not send their children to high FARMS schools if they can help it--concerns about peer influences, unfair treatment from teachers (who assume they're from poor/uneducated families like most of their peers), etc.

There are a smattering of such families that I know at schools like Eaton and Shepherd, but many move out to stronger school systems in MoCo or VA, or go private. A few neighbors and friends are at CMI, LAMB, ITS.

I was just discussing this with a friend this week--she joked that we (educated AAs) don't put our kids in predominantly low SES schools, since they already have several strikes against them right out of the gate. See this thread, which discusses this issue:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/484734.page

PP here. I forgot to add that I do wish more educated AA families would send their kids to DCPS schools. Otherwise, the schools end up being a mix of low SES AA families, often from very challenging circumstances, along with very affluent, highly educated white families--which to me is just an uncomfortable dynamic.

It does seem that more educated AAs are trying out DCPS schools in recent years, particularly in the lower grades at Eaton, Shepherd, Cleveland, etc.

[Anonymous]

I'm EOTP and Ive lived WOTP. I've also (for a short time) lived EOTR. Each neighborhood in DC has positives and negatives. I've found that for such a small city, so many of us don't travel to other parts of it. That's really changed in the last maybe 7 years with the popularity of charters as more families are forced to take their kids to play dates or events outside their neighborhoods.

I think we can all agree though, we are much better than Maryland. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op ward three as a whole has much better schools and Lowe crime than ward four. So buying in ward three is a better bet, just an easier assurance that there will probably be lower crime and better schools. Ward four is more hit or
miss though has some good schools and beautiful areas.

I grew up in ward 3. Went to neighborhood schools (public and private) and I absolutely think EoTP people have a bit of a superior attitude. I think it's a chip on the shoulder kind of thing. I also think there's some jealousy that they have to put in with more crime and worry more about finding the right school.

Don't worry - the thugs are trying to even out the crime stats. Look at the recent stabbings and armed robberies near Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op ward three as a whole has much better schools and Lowe crime than ward four. So buying in ward three is a better bet, just an easier assurance that there will probably be lower crime and better schools. Ward four is more hit or
miss though has some good schools and beautiful areas.

I grew up in ward 3. Went to neighborhood schools (public and private) and I absolutely think EoTP people have a bit of a superior attitude. I think it's a chip on the shoulder kind of thing. I also think there's some jealousy that they have to put in with more crime and worry more about finding the right school.

Don't worry - the thugs are trying to even out the crime stats. Look at the recent stabbings and armed robberies near Wilson.

The glee with which some people EOTP relish the unusual and therefore highly publicized crime events WOTP is really pathetic, not to say repulsive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op ward three as a whole has much better schools and Lowe crime than ward four. So buying in ward three is a better bet, just an easier assurance that there will probably be lower crime and better schools. Ward four is more hit or
miss though has some good schools and beautiful areas.

I grew up in ward 3. Went to neighborhood schools (public and private) and I absolutely think EoTP people have a bit of a superior attitude. I think it's a chip on the shoulder kind of thing. I also think there's some jealousy that they have to put in with more crime and worry more about finding the right school.

Don't worry - the thugs are trying to even out the crime stats. Look at the recent stabbings and armed robberies near Wilson.

The glee with which some people EOTP relish the unusual and therefore highly publicized crime events WOTP is really pathetic, not to say repulsive.

I doubt the "thugs" PP lives EOTP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Shepherd's not that great, but I always get yelled at when I say that. The kids are nice. The teachers are nice. Everyone's trying. But there are issues.

Everyone accepted your opinion the first five or ten times you posted it. There is really no need to keep repeating it on every single thread. That is why you "get yelled at". We are happy that you found a better situation for your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op ward three as a whole has much better schools and Lowe crime than ward four. So buying in ward three is a better bet, just an easier assurance that there will probably be lower crime and better schools. Ward four is more hit or
miss though has some good schools and beautiful areas.

I grew up in ward 3. Went to neighborhood schools (public and private) and I absolutely think EoTP people have a bit of a superior attitude. I think it's a chip on the shoulder kind of thing. I also think there's some jealousy that they have to put in with more crime and worry more about finding the right school.

Don't worry - the thugs are trying to even out the crime stats. Look at the recent stabbings and armed robberies near Wilson.

The glee with which some people EOTP relish the unusual and therefore highly publicized crime events WOTP is really pathetic, not to say repulsive.

I doubt the "thugs" PP lives EOTP.

Why not? They are obviously using "thugs" to imply that this is the term WOTPers would use.