Hypocrisy about diverse schools

[Anonymous]

I agree it is the parents who have all the issues with cohort, not the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why everyone loves W schools so much

Our DD is very happy at our DCC school

Not only has she taken many AP courses, she has become surprisingly comfortable with a shank in her hand - has yet to lose a single knife fight. So proud

My kid reported that a friend said her parents wouldn't let her go to a middle school in Germantown because there are gangs and she might get pregnant. It wasn't clear whether the friend knew how you get pregnant.

LOL! How about this- tell the parents to "parent" and tell their daughter not to get pregnant!

Yeah this is pretty funny. I wrote the joke about the DCC school above but our daughter will actually attend one (when she is old enough)

[Anonymous]

We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

There is no majority in many of the Silver Spring schools either. Please don't make sweeping judgments about entire sides of the county based on a couple of birthday parties.
We are black, live in Silver Spring, and DD's friend group is very racially and ethnically diverse. But yes, most of her friends come from families like ours - highly educated professionals who work for government, non-profits or universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

Uh... what? Yes, there is clearly a racial majority in most of these schools.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/02216.pdf

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/03228.pdf

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/03228.pdf

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04602.pdf

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04234.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

Last year there were no more than 104 black students at Whitman High School, which had 2,085 students.

Also, are the kids at your daughter's birthday parties Asian immigrants, or are they Asian-American? At my kids' schools, almost everybody is Asian-American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But we value other things too. We value public transportation and walkable community- like being around farmers markets etc. we wouldn’t have that if we moved further out.

Actually these things do exist out in higher ranked areas too. The Shady Grove red line is close to W schools so there are parents who drive 5-10 minutes and then take the metro. There are farmers markets all over. Many areas that feed into RM are walkable -Fallsgrove, RTC and there are tons of farmers markets. Wootton is getting an area with Trader Joe's, restaurants etc off Travilah RD. Churchill has Park Potomac and the Village. QO has Lakelands and the Kentlands.

Right, but those areas would add a ton of time to our commute. So we prefer close-in SS, and have been very happy with the schools. Yes, there are more lower SES kids in the schools, but they do a great job of having a mix of classes for all types of abilities. My children are in a very competitive cohort. We brought in our starter home, but love the area so much instead of moving out of the DCC we renovated and are staying in our house.

[Anonymous]

race itself is not a main issue. If there are objective criteria that people can have to judge how "good" a school is, many of them will probably choose (if they have the choice) a better school regardless of the racial composition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But we value other things too. We value public transportation and walkable community- like being around farmers markets etc. we wouldn’t have that if we moved further out.

Actually these things do exist out in higher ranked areas too. The Shady Grove red line is close to W schools so there are parents who drive 5-10 minutes and then take the metro. There are farmers markets all over. Many areas that feed into RM are walkable -Fallsgrove, RTC and there are tons of farmers markets. Wootton is getting an area with Trader Joe's, restaurants etc off Travilah RD. Churchill has Park Potomac and the Village. QO has Lakelands and the Kentlands.

Right, but those areas would add a ton of time to our commute. So we prefer close-in SS, and have been very happy with the schools. Yes, there are more lower SES kids in the schools, but they do a great job of having a mix of classes for all types of abilities. My children are in a very competitive cohort. We brought in our starter home, but love the area so much instead of moving out of the DCC we renovated and are staying in our house.

It wouldn't add time to your commute if you are taking the metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

Last year there were no more than 104 black students at Whitman High School, which had 2,085 students.

Also, are the kids at your daughter's birthday parties Asian immigrants, or are they Asian-American? At my kids' schools, almost everybody is Asian-American.

Its probably Wootton or WJ.

Curious as to why it matters if the Asian kids were born in the US or overseas? I know that we have friends who moved here after the first kid was born, some who grew up in overseas but whose kids were born here and some who hold dual citizenship. Lots of different scenarios. Why exactly does would this matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It wouldn't add time to your commute if you are taking the metro.

How can you possibly know this, if you don't know where PP lives and where PP works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

Last year there were no more than 104 black students at Whitman High School, which had 2,085 students.

Also, are the kids at your daughter's birthday parties Asian immigrants, or are they Asian-American? At my kids' schools, almost everybody is Asian-American.

Its probably Wootton or WJ.

Curious as to why it matters if the Asian kids were born in the US or overseas? I know that we have friends who moved here after the first kid was born, some who grew up in overseas but whose kids were born here and some who hold dual citizenship. Lots of different scenarios. Why exactly does would this matter?

Because kids who were born and raised in the US are American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We're in a W school and DD's friends are very diverse. If I go by her closest friend group and recent b-day party attendees they include 3 black, 4 asian, 1 middle eastern, and 2 white girls. One of the white girls is half asian. DS has a similar but not identical mix of friends. In comparison we've gone to two different parties in Silver Spring with old friends and almost all the kids/people there were white.

I think the races/cultures mix more in the W schools. It might be because there is no majority in some of the schools, the kids are all from similar highly educated families, and the SES is not at the extremes.

Last year there were no more than 104 black students at Whitman High School, which had 2,085 students.

Also, are the kids at your daughter's birthday parties Asian immigrants, or are they Asian-American? At my kids' schools, almost everybody is Asian-American.

Its probably Wootton or WJ.

Curious as to why it matters if the Asian kids were born in the US or overseas? I know that we have friends who moved here after the first kid was born, some who grew up in overseas but whose kids were born here and some who hold dual citizenship. Lots of different scenarios. Why exactly does would this matter?

Because kids who were born and raised in the US are American.

I think the PP was asking why the issue was raised here? You are just saying nothing more than "because it matters..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


It wouldn't add time to your commute if you are taking the metro.

How can you possibly know this, if you don't know where PP lives and where PP works?

She's on the red line just on the eastern rather than the western side. If she takes the metro there really would be a big difference in time. If she lives no where near the metro or just lives near a metro but doesn't use it, then her commute could be long or shorter,

[Anonymous]

I feel like we are digressing in this conversation. This is not about race; it's about SES. I think it's clear that many parents want a diverse school as long as it doesn't impede their child's chances of having a high-achieving peer cohort. Because most parents don't have recent first hand experience when researching schools, they look at the available data, the FARMS rate; and evaluate if they're comfortable with that. The level of comfort varies from family to family.