DCI vs Latin Cooper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I'm not a troll. I'm a Chinese-speaking parent at DCI who sees that the YY survivors aren't knocking themselves out for Mandarin. I don't hear about anybody at DCI in my kids' cohorts bothering with summer immersion. Just not happening. I know there are Spanish families who go for it at Concordia, etc Good for them.

That’s because their goal is not fluency but maybe competency. They might prioritize something else academically higher.

Reality is the Chinese program at DCI is also very small and take the most non-immersion kids who have absolutely no background in the language coming in. Not to mention the percentage of native chinese families in the city is so small so of course there will not be as many native families as in the burbs.

If you want to be around more native families, you need to move to the burbs. But you already knew that. If your kid really is at DCI and you are not happy about it and choose not to take action, that’s on you. It’s common knowledge the chinese program is the weakest for all the reasons above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to the latest CAPE scores, half of DCI students are below grade level in reading and writing and 3/4 are below grade level in math.

Hard pass.

This sounds dreadful, but the truth is that the half of DCI students working below grade level won't be in your kids' classes after 8th grade. They won't even be in most of your kid's classes in middle school, particularly if your student works above grade level in math and isn't on the beginner track for one of the target languages.

My kid is very strong in his target langauge and I feel confident would have been placed well there but is not strong in math. I wasn't able to get a good sense of how the placement and counseling work at DCI in general or how student support works in middle school. I felt great about the HS but didn't get the same sense about opportunity, focus on writing, or support for the MS. So, for us, we took a different path.

These threads always devolve into people convincing themselves of their own choices vs providing information. Which is unfortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I'm not a troll. I'm a Chinese-speaking parent at DCI who sees that the YY survivors aren't knocking themselves out for Mandarin. I don't hear about anybody at DCI in my kids' cohorts bothering with summer immersion. Just not happening. I know there are Spanish families who go for it at Concordia, etc Good for them.

That’s because their goal is not fluency but maybe competency. They might prioritize something else academically higher.

Reality is the Chinese program at DCI is also very small and take the most non-immersion kids who have absolutely no background in the language coming in. Not to mention the percentage of native chinese families in the city is so small so of course there will not be as many native families as in the burbs.

If you want to be around more native families, you need to move to the burbs. But you already knew that. If your kid really is at DCI and you are not happy about it and choose not to take action, that’s on you. It’s common knowledge the chinese program is the weakest for all the reasons above.

No dog in this fight but, whoah. You tell those Chinese-speaking immigrants where to go, PP. Tell them to get stuffed in the burbs! Bully for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I'm not a troll. I'm a Chinese-speaking parent at DCI who sees that the YY survivors aren't knocking themselves out for Mandarin. I don't hear about anybody at DCI in my kids' cohorts bothering with summer immersion. Just not happening. I know there are Spanish families who go for it at Concordia, etc Good for them.

That’s because their goal is not fluency but maybe competency. They might prioritize something else academically higher.

Reality is the Chinese program at DCI is also very small and take the most non-immersion kids who have absolutely no background in the language coming in. Not to mention the percentage of native chinese families in the city is so small so of course there will not be as many native families as in the burbs.

If you want to be around more native families, you need to move to the burbs. But you already knew that. If your kid really is at DCI and you are not happy about it and choose not to take action, that’s on you. It’s common knowledge the chinese program is the weakest for all the reasons above.

No dog in this fight but, whoah. You tell those Chinese-speaking immigrants where to go, PP. Tell them to get stuffed in the burbs! Bully for you.

Not bully but reality.

I’m asian but not Chinese and majority of my people are in the burbs. They go because the public school system is stronger. No one is forcing them to go. But I’m not on here whining that there are not a lot of native speakers at the school and expect a strong program when there is a lack of natives in the city.

See how that goes. PP wants her cake by staying in the city and to eat it too all the while doing nothing to rectify what she wants by moving. She wants the school and families there to rectify it for her children and is bitter that it’s not done.

[Anonymous]

I like it when DC residents complain about half assed ed programs for their tax dollars and organize to challenge dumb policies. Nobody should be forced to move in a Metro center for the type of school that's available in jurisdictions just a few miles away. It's a shame that there aren't any immersion programs with set asides for native speakers in this city other than for Spanish at Oyster and Adams. If DCI has been set up as a DCPS-DCPCS hybrid program, which was seriously considered years ago (DCPS said no, not DCPCS), they could have had a lottery for native speakers to attract native speakers of all three target languages. The small number of Chinese immigrants in the city isn't the crux of the problem. It's also a shame that BASIS and Latin can't give admissions tests (like the middle school magnets my spouse and I attended in different East Coast cities).

Blaming individuals who seek best ed practices for not moving as they seek common sense solutions isn't the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like it when DC residents complain about half assed ed programs for their tax dollars and organize to challenge dumb policies. Nobody should be forced to move in a Metro center for the type of school that's available in jurisdictions just a few miles away. It's a shame that there aren't any immersion programs with set asides for native speakers in this city other than for Spanish at Oyster and Adams. If DCI has been set up as a DCPS-DCPCS hybrid program, which was seriously considered years ago (DCPS said no, not DCPCS), they could have had a lottery for native speakers to attract native speakers of all three target languages. The small number of Chinese immigrants in the city isn't the crux of the problem. It's also a shame that BASIS and Latin can't give admissions tests (like the middle school magnets my spouse and I attended in different East Coast cities).

Blaming individuals who seek best ed practices for not moving as they seek common sense solutions isn't the answer.

The thing is, as a native speaker, what these people want is not just native speaker preference, they want the schools to match the pressure cooker environment of their hukao or whatever. I would prefer not to have that. I took my first streaming exam at 6 years old, then had them roughly every 4 years to place again. For university I had to place in the top 30 or so to do CS. In my parents generation you didn’t even get to choose your major- if you were in the top decile or so you went to med school.
By the time I hit the equivalent of high school I knew 4-5 kids who’d had complete nervous breakdowns.

I think schools could be a little more rigorous here don’t get me wrong, but I think people who think the pressure cooker system is good for kids are a little ridiculous, and if they think their kids will come out on top they’re naive.

[Anonymous]

What do you define as a pressure cooker environment? An IB World School where parents, teachers, admins and students care how students score on IBD language exams? I went to that kind of high school, scored high on IB exams and didn’t have a breakdown in the process. The oppsosite: I loved the school. My Chinese immigrant parents didn’t push me as much as teachers and friends did. DCI is a school where nobody much cares about exam scores. We left.

[Anonymous]

Good question.

High achievement and terrible stress don’t neccessarily go hand in hand for teens.

[Anonymous]

Lots of misleading information here, and I don't think you can get the real truth. We also know how our kid's experience has been, but not how they would have handled a different type of school.

If you want to get a better sense, then try to find current parents who are willing to meet with you for coffee. I would not feel comfortable posting a lot of details on here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it when DC residents complain about half assed ed programs for their tax dollars and organize to challenge dumb policies. Nobody should be forced to move in a Metro center for the type of school that's available in jurisdictions just a few miles away. It's a shame that there aren't any immersion programs with set asides for native speakers in this city other than for Spanish at Oyster and Adams. If DCI has been set up as a DCPS-DCPCS hybrid program, which was seriously considered years ago (DCPS said no, not DCPCS), they could have had a lottery for native speakers to attract native speakers of all three target languages. The small number of Chinese immigrants in the city isn't the crux of the problem. It's also a shame that BASIS and Latin can't give admissions tests (like the middle school magnets my spouse and I attended in different East Coast cities).

Blaming individuals who seek best ed practices for not moving as they seek common sense solutions isn't the answer.

The thing is, as a native speaker, what these people want is not just native speaker preference, they want the schools to match the pressure cooker environment of their hukao or whatever. I would prefer not to have that. I took my first streaming exam at 6 years old, then had them roughly every 4 years to place again. For university I had to place in the top 30 or so to do CS. In my parents generation you didn’t even get to choose your major- if you were in the top decile or so you went to med school.
By the time I hit the equivalent of high school I knew 4-5 kids who’d had complete nervous breakdowns.

I think schools could be a little more rigorous here don’t get me wrong, but I think people who think the pressure cooker system is good for kids are a little ridiculous, and if they think their kids will come out on top they’re naive.

And you know this because you've conducted a survey of native speakers of Chinese with middle and high school-age children in the DMV? Because of course almost every Chinese immigrant parent attended a hukao or "whatever." This Chinese immigrant parent attended a NYC magnet HS followed by an Ivy, no hukaos involved.

The reason DC charters attract very few East Asian immigrant families is because they're not nearly as good as the best suburban options. BASIS and Deal have the highest Asian percentages, not DCI or Latin Cooper. DC can do better.

[Anonymous]

This. Where public schools are stellar, the Asian families will come. DCI attracts few, Latin Cooper even fewer. You may not care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it when DC residents complain about half assed ed programs for their tax dollars and organize to challenge dumb policies. Nobody should be forced to move in a Metro center for the type of school that's available in jurisdictions just a few miles away. It's a shame that there aren't any immersion programs with set asides for native speakers in this city other than for Spanish at Oyster and Adams. If DCI has been set up as a DCPS-DCPCS hybrid program, which was seriously considered years ago (DCPS said no, not DCPCS), they could have had a lottery for native speakers to attract native speakers of all three target languages. The small number of Chinese immigrants in the city isn't the crux of the problem. It's also a shame that BASIS and Latin can't give admissions tests (like the middle school magnets my spouse and I attended in different East Coast cities).

Blaming individuals who seek best ed practices for not moving as they seek common sense solutions isn't the answer.

The thing is, as a native speaker, what these people want is not just native speaker preference, they want the schools to match the pressure cooker environment of their hukao or whatever. I would prefer not to have that. I took my first streaming exam at 6 years old, then had them roughly every 4 years to place again. For university I had to place in the top 30 or so to do CS. In my parents generation you didn’t even get to choose your major- if you were in the top decile or so you went to med school.
By the time I hit the equivalent of high school I knew 4-5 kids who’d had complete nervous breakdowns.

I think schools could be a little more rigorous here don’t get me wrong, but I think people who think the pressure cooker system is good for kids are a little ridiculous, and if they think their kids will come out on top they’re naive.

And you know this because you've conducted a survey of native speakers of Chinese with middle and high school-age children in the DMV? Because of course almost every Chinese immigrant parent attended a hukao or "whatever." This Chinese immigrant parent attended a NYC magnet HS followed by an Ivy, no hukaos involved.

The reason DC charters attract very few East Asian immigrant families is because they're not nearly as good as the best suburban options. BASIS and Deal have the highest Asian percentages, not DCI or Latin Cooper. DC can do better.

Basis and Deal barely have any Asians, a few percentages more but nothing significant.

The reason charters don’t attract asians is because it’s not a guarantee thing. They are a lottery. They don’t admit based on a testing score threshold.

The biggest reason though that there are few Asians in the city is because there is no tracking at the elementary, middle, and high school level to push the high achievers to their fullest potential. There are no magnet schools. This blame does not lay with individual schools. It lays at the hands of the mayor and city who only care about the bottom.

What I will say though like others have said on this thread is that DCI has one of the highest “tracking” off the record for high performers in middle school with math and the electives, social studies, etc…taught in the language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like it when DC residents complain about half assed ed programs for their tax dollars and organize to challenge dumb policies. Nobody should be forced to move in a Metro center for the type of school that's available in jurisdictions just a few miles away. It's a shame that there aren't any immersion programs with set asides for native speakers in this city other than for Spanish at Oyster and Adams. If DCI has been set up as a DCPS-DCPCS hybrid program, which was seriously considered years ago (DCPS said no, not DCPCS), they could have had a lottery for native speakers to attract native speakers of all three target languages. The small number of Chinese immigrants in the city isn't the crux of the problem. It's also a shame that BASIS and Latin can't give admissions tests (like the middle school magnets my spouse and I attended in different East Coast cities).

Blaming individuals who seek best ed practices for not moving as they seek common sense solutions isn't the answer.

The thing is, as a native speaker, what these people want is not just native speaker preference, they want the schools to match the pressure cooker environment of their hukao or whatever. I would prefer not to have that. I took my first streaming exam at 6 years old, then had them roughly every 4 years to place again. For university I had to place in the top 30 or so to do CS. In my parents generation you didn’t even get to choose your major- if you were in the top decile or so you went to med school.
By the time I hit the equivalent of high school I knew 4-5 kids who’d had complete nervous breakdowns.

I think schools could be a little more rigorous here don’t get me wrong, but I think people who think the pressure cooker system is good for kids are a little ridiculous, and if they think their kids will come out on top they’re naive.

And you know this because you've conducted a survey of native speakers of Chinese with middle and high school-age children in the DMV? Because of course almost every Chinese immigrant parent attended a hukao or "whatever." This Chinese immigrant parent attended a NYC magnet HS followed by an Ivy, no hukaos involved.

The reason DC charters attract very few East Asian immigrant families is because they're not nearly as good as the best suburban options. BASIS and Deal have the highest Asian percentages, not DCI or Latin Cooper. DC can do better.

Basis and Deal barely have any Asians, a few percentages more but nothing significant.

The reason charters don’t attract asians is because it’s not a guarantee thing. They are a lottery. They don’t admit based on a testing score threshold.

The biggest reason though that there are few Asians in the city is because there is no tracking at the elementary, middle, and high school level to push the high achievers to their fullest potential. There are no magnet schools. This blame does not lay with individual schools. It lays at the hands of the mayor and city who only care about the bottom.

What I will say though like others have said on this thread is that DCI has one of the highest “tracking” off the record for high performers in middle school with math and the electives, social studies, etc…taught in the language.

Not buying this. Most of the fellow DC East Asian immigrant families we know have hit the road for the burbs during or right after the ES years. Same for the "WAsian" families (white/East Asian). These families, both high and low SES, don't tend to bother with the school lottery because they have a strong tendency to move to MoCo or NoVA for schools. There are DC public magnet schools--Walls, Banneker, Duke Ellington--just not those on a par with those in the burbs. The highest performing charters keep some Asian and WAsian families without the dough for privates in the District, but not most of these families. While individual schools bear some of the responsibility for the failure to provide sufficient challenge to advanced students in DCPS, the mayor, ed leaders and voters are mostly to blame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This. Where public schools are stellar, the Asian families will come. DCI attracts few, Latin Cooper even fewer. You may not care.

I think the silent part here is that a lot of the posters think parents at dci don’t care because there are a lot of black and brown parents. I think that predominantly white schools will always “feel stronger” to them regardless of objective reasoning.

I think a lot of facts have been posted here, but no objective facts to actually discredit DCI. Would welcome a little objectivity especially from the posters trashing the Chinese program at DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This. Where public schools are stellar, the Asian families will come. DCI attracts few, Latin Cooper even fewer. You may not care.

What makes a school stellar? You have not explained that.

I personally don’t think any Latin campus is a good fit for my kids. The tracking provided at dci does a great job with keeping my academically motivated children interested and thriving. A close friend of my daughter’s attends latin and he is thriving. He was struggling with Spanish, couldn’t read or write well, and was scoring poorly in math. Latin has done a great job of meeting him where he was and supporting him. He doesn’t feel left behind because they don’t track. It has been very positive for him.

I don’t think having East Asian people at a school means it’s stellar. Please consider reevaluating your remarks because you sound super racist and uninformed.