How many does it take

[Anonymous]

I am always curious at the interests of the white parent base when they are seeking a diversity answer. Hypothetically if school A has one white child but school B has 50 and then there's school C that has none. What is the comfort zone?

[Anonymous]

Statistically according to national studies most white middle class parents seek schools with no more than 20% minorities. Frankly how that is possible given demographic shifts I cant fathom, but that is what I heard in documentaries. Personally I look for my white kid to represent about 30% of the school meaning she will be one of 3-4 other white kids in the class. I have done less and it has not been an easy experience as much an issue of class as otherwise but kids see and act on race more often than we like to think.

[Anonymous]

As long as she is not the ONLY white face, but I would like about 10-20% if I could choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Statistically according to national studies most white middle class parents seek schools with no more than 20% minorities. Frankly how that is possible given demographic shifts I cant fathom, but that is what I heard in documentaries. Personally I look for my white kid to represent about 30% of the school meaning she will be one of 3-4 other white kids in the class. I have done less and it has not been an easy experience as much an issue of class as otherwise but kids see and act on race more often than we like to think.

4 white kids in class /20 students, an average class size = 20%
5 white kids in class /20 students, an average class size = 25%

[Anonymous]

Often schools will be about 30% white, but by the time you get to the upper grades the classes are more in the 20-25%. Still I am fine as long as the other parents what ever color are education focused. That is frankly more important than race.

[Anonymous]

To answer your question OP, none of the first scenarios in your first post sound appealing. I don't want my white child to be the only one, I also don't want them to be with only other white students--as the other posters mentioned, I look for white student population to be somewhere between 20-40%. That is what the make up is at the charter we are at and it is great.

[Anonymous]

OP, here thanks for the dialogue. I've been active with DCPS all my life. I went to an elementary school with one white child enrolled and his life was miserable (beyond bullying) and it continued through junior high. We parted ways by going to different high schools he went to diverse Wilson and I attended all AA Woodson.

Which leads me to this question why fight so hard for your neighborhood schools to be the best but will not be the first to breakthrough.

By the way our school years were from 1966 thru 1978. That was doing the decades of white flight and black pride collided. Here we are of the millenium and some might say it is the decade of black flight and white pride but collisions will be avoided by all costs and charter school choices.

[Anonymous]

As a family we value diversity in ALL forms - so look for families in all different configurations, colors, income levels, cultures, age and teachers/staff as well. We went in as one of about 7 all white, two income, two parent, upper middle class parents in a school with no staff other then AA. Now we are the only all white, two income, two parent upper middle class in our grade but the teaching staff is more diverse, lower grades are more diverse and diversity is increasing along a couple of different lines in the upper grades (spanish speaking/AA, two parent homes, higher income). We may be an only along one or two different lines but not along every line. As 10:31 said - as great as diversity is it has to be balanced with the focus on education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Statistically according to national studies most white middle class parents seek schools with no more than 20% minorities. Frankly how that is possible given demographic shifts I cant fathom, but that is what I heard in documentaries. Personally I look for my white kid to represent about 30% of the school meaning she will be one of 3-4 other white kids in the class. I have done less and it has not been an easy experience as much an issue of class as otherwise but kids see and act on race more often than we like to think.

As a white person who is very happy living in a very mixed neighborhood in DC, I'm going to state the obvious. It's not about race, it's about SES. I'm totally fine with my child not being in the racial majority at her school (which is YY and has no racial majority, but at this point might have a white plurality). I think the ethnic diversity is a huge strength for the community and for her education. To be perfectly honest though, the relatively high SES of the school increases my comfort level. I'd rather my child go to school with well-mannered children from educated families of any and every racial/ethnic/religious/gay-bi-trans/etc. background, than other children of her own race who might be from broken homes, saddled with low expectations, behavioral problems, unstable and unsafe home lives, etc.

That was probably terribly politically incorrect. Nonetheless, my child's school is one of many things I'm thankful for today.

[Anonymous]

OP, sometimes I worry about it. Then I see the rare situations of the Asian-American students thriving at Dunbar that is known for traditionally being majority African-American. But I do think there are mixed signals being sent. Such as, many will want to attend the newly renovated high school but are extremely hesitant because of the racial make-up. Then there are those who are supposedly welcoming diversity but the current undertone is that whites are trying to take over.

Then that lure of special programs for schools is the ultimate seperator when it comes to attracting diversity. Many shy away from the fact that the overall school population at one of our most diverse high schools is AA. But those academies/special programs have a large white participation. Is it because of lack of interests or interceding from others for not having AA or other races represented in those academies/programs?

[Anonymous]

I think Walker Jones is a great example too, newly renovated with plenty of white families living near by, but noone wanting to be "the first"

[Anonymous]

Same with Brookland/Bunker Hill and Burroughs in NE (Brookland). If all local families enrolled at local publics (instead of charters, OOB lottery, and assorted privates) the demographics of those schools would reflect higher SES, more whites, and overall, higher achievement as evidenced in test scores. Yet no one wants their child to be the guinea pig to start the trend. So we continue, year after year, to live in our affordable neighborhood and play lotteries and write checks to give our children a better educational experience than what we imagine they might get if they walked down the block to the red brick school house.

[Anonymous]

This is America. The color line that matters isn't white/non-white, it's black/non-black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is America. The color line that matters isn't white/non-white, it's black/non-black.

I am white and I live in a census district that is 80% AA in NE, I am fine with it but many people of all races have this issue. Even AA often are not so keen on desegregation. I found this piece on the PG County in the post interesting. Yes whites were moving out but other issues are also at play.

A racial safety zone

Scholars of the black middle class say many African Americans want to live together.

“They enjoy interacting with other blacks,” Karyn Lacy, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, wrote in her book “Blue-Chip Black,” for which she interviewed dozens of parents in Prince George’s. “Scholars have focused so much on the burden of blackness that they have devoted scant attention to the possibility that there is something enjoyable about being black and participating in a community of blacks.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/prince-georges-county-growing-and-growing-more-segregated-census-shows/2011/10/14/gIQAbCc1TM_story_2.html

A lot of us cite diversity, but it is really hard to live in a diverse place where people are not like you either due to race, culture or class. Most people see some likeness one way or another.

[Anonymous]

It's not about skin color. It's about the education and economic situation of the families these kids come from. I'd rather my ("white") kids in a school with a majority of "minority" faces that come from educated, upper-middle class homes than a school with a majority of "white" faces from lower class, under-educated homes.