The Real Problem With D.C. Public Schools

[Anonymous]

We try to bring all of the smart students to their own schools, BASIS, School Without Walls (for rich white kids), Banneker (For Black Kids), etc... If these kids were in normal public schools maybe they would do some good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We try to bring all of the smart students to their own schools, BASIS, School Without Walls (for rich white kids), Banneker (For Black Kids), etc... If these kids were in normal public schools maybe they would do some good.

All kids are in school to learn. What kind of "good" did you have in mind?

SWW and Banneker are two long established DC public schools that are open to all residents, irrecpective of race or income.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I did not know that Walls was only for white students and Banneker for Blacks. So, where should the Asians and Latinos apply. Also, I thought the rich kids, regardless of race, attended Sidwell or GPS not Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We try to bring all of the smart students to their own schools, BASIS, School Without Walls (for rich white kids), Banneker (For Black Kids), etc... If these kids were in normal public schools maybe they would do some good.

Nobody attends Basis, however there are lots of smart kids at Deal and Latin.

Basis is going to have to learn how to educate children from all levels, even those in Special Ed. Oh, and fast.

[Anonymous]

Not very eloquently but legitimately I think, OP wants to raise the point that in looking at high schools in DC's public school system (universities too btw), we see a system still segregated along racial lines and to some extent income. Historians, sociologists, and maybe anthropologists would be better positioned to explain the causes of this map but I think most agree that the consequences aren't desirable.
What I'd like to propose as a tidbit of a hypothesis for this discussion - especially on the backdrop that today's news reported that there are, for the first time in US history, less than 50% white babies among us - is that what has driven these self-selections in the past is about to be shaken up dramatically over the next 10 years or so, maybe most dramatically in the DC landscape. DC's elementary schools are a testimony to that. They look more diverse in every way than they ever used to, the Latino and Asian population often acting as a "mixer". I believe that diversity is sought increasingly by most white as well as black urban dwellers but it takes time to gel and time for everybody to realize and capitalize on its benefits, all the while vocalizing and discussing them rather than keeping them under wraps and a taboo not to be mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We try to bring all of the smart students to their own schools, BASIS, School Without Walls (for rich white kids), Banneker (For Black Kids), etc... If these kids were in normal public schools maybe they would do some good.

I take huge offense at the notiom that a child's education should be compromised to "do some good" in a broken school system. Where are the adults and their responsibilities to the kids?

[Anonymous]

Oh, good, it's more "spread the smart kids out" nonsense. Here's a news flash - my daughter is not some tool for achieving social justice - she's a kid who deserves an appropriate education, just like all other kids. That she requires more advanced instruction is not her fault, just like it's not the SN kids' fault. If you want to eliminate any programs for advanced kids and send her to the run-of-the-mill DCPS, she won't be in DCPS anymore. And I can't imagine she'll be the only one.

[Anonymous]

Just don't tell me about the real problems. Are there any real fixes? SWW for rich White kids and Banneker for Black kids. Did you know that Banneker was crafted as an experiment to lure the White school population back to the city? SWW was crafted to give an alternative learning environment to disadvantage Black children by exposing them to a college-like atmosphere? See you are a transplanted person to the District and rely on google research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We try to bring all of the smart students to their own schools, BASIS, School Without Walls (for rich white kids), Banneker (For Black Kids), etc... If these kids were in normal public schools maybe they would do some good.

Then you would hear people complain that the rich white folks are taking over the PTA and are getting special treatment and introducing programs that the lower SEC are not interested in etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We try to bring all of the smart students to their own schools, BASIS, School Without Walls (for rich white kids), Banneker (For Black Kids), etc... If these kids were in normal public schools maybe they would do some good.

The real problem with DC Public Schools is people using your thought process to make decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, good, it's more "spread the smart kids out" nonsense. Here's a news flash - my daughter is not some tool for achieving social justice - she's a kid who deserves an appropriate education, just like all other kids. That she requires more advanced instruction is not her fault, just like it's not the SN kids' fault. If you want to eliminate any programs for advanced kids and send her to the run-of-the-mill DCPS, she won't be in DCPS anymore. And I can't imagine she'll be the only one.

But where are the "advanced" programs you refer to? DC doesn't support neighborhood ES or MS talented and gifted programs - the handful of schools with "accelerated learning" programs must use PTA raised funds to pay for them. Charters use luck as their sole criterion for admissions, throwing kids needing remediation in classes with "advanced" kids. And the several magnet high schools don't demand that kids take tough admissions tests - SWW is half black and surely wouldn't be if the admissions tests were anything like the SSAT in NYC, not without steering low-income kids coming up through TAG programs from an early age into elite high schools via test prep, like NYC has done for decades. Upper-middle-class blacks still tend to avoid DCPS. DC's several elite public high schools are in fact seriously run-of-the-mill when compared to the suburban magnets, particularly Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria and the two magnets at Blair Montgomery HS (admitting around 15% of applicants). The proof? TJ gets more kids into a single Ivy, Little Ivy, US military academy, top tech school like MIT in one year than DCPS does system wide. Meanwhile, Banneker's average SAT scores are below the national average.

[Anonymous]

The real problem with DCPS is squandering resources
If there were true effort made to create functional Special Education centers, the funds currently directed for private placements and transport out to MD and VA could be directed at improving the lot of ALL students. (Plus, the parents I know would prefer a 20 minute bus ride for their children to the current 75 minute drive with attendant toileting problems)

[Anonymous]

Nope. Have you taught in a 4th tier school in DC? The poor schools in Ward 7/8 will NEVER outperform Janney for a few simple reasons.

1) Janney parents start having children at 30-35. Ward 7/8 parents start having children at half that age. And parents that delay having children tend to be better off financially and better able to parent, rather than cohabitate with, their children.

2) Middle/Upper class children enter school YEARS ahead of students at poor schools. At my 4th tier Ward 7 school, 5th graders read books like Junie B. Jones. Those books are kindergarten books at Janney.

3) most Ward 7/8 parents care NOTHING about improving their schools. Sorry if this is not politically correct, but it is true. Some, maybe 40%, give a shit about whether their one child is learning, but truly less than 5% care anything about volunteering at the school, joining a PTA, advocating for positive school change, etc. (This is most disgusting because the vast majority of parents at the school I worked at did not have jobs, so they had plenty of time to help their children/school. They chose not to.)

[Anonymous]

pointless argument. waste of time to worry about test scores and achievement. we would be better off if we concentrated on the quality of educational opportunities being offered. But we'll never get to that point because the people who run our schools (and apparently the people on this forum) are only looking at test scores.

[Anonymous]

The problem is a segregated city with the worst schools trapped in poor communities that perpetuate cultures of poverty.