Washington Hebrew

[Anonymous]

The big picture here is about young, yuppie liberals of all races deciding they are going to reverse the tragedy of white flight by moving east of the Park in DC.

We have a new and fragile trend over this decade, and particularly over the past few years, of all types of yuppies moving in and trying real, real hard to put their kid in public and charter schools in DC east of the Park rather than just opting for the suburbs (or Wards 2 or 3) when the kids hit 4 or 5 or ponying up for ridiculous private schools.

Reversing white flight requires critical masses of these families to put their kids in DC schools of some stripe or another east of the Park. A school that effectively concentrates and separates a subgroup of the yuppie families dilutes that fragile critical mass.

And a sustainable reversal of white flight builds bridges between the successful liberal yuppies who are moving in and the dysfunctional poor families around them and east of them. DC charter schools need genuinely open programs that, while diverse in approach, truly interest the yuppie families in staying and interest poor longtime DC families in truly bettering the lives of their children.

Look, we're not going to live in some magic integrated world; it's been proven we only want that to a limited extent due to cultural and class affiliation, etc. But we have to try harder than people have in past generations.

We're a bunch of young, committed yuppie liberals who decided to move into a city that turned into a despicable ghetto and think we can make it livable. We should work in solidarity as much as we can to promote positive trends in this city.

If we were all in it for ourselves, we would just save up and make our own "white flight" west of the Park or out of the City. I know this board is full of snark, crassness, spite and anger, but deep down we all want to serve both our consciences and our self-interest and prove that progress is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dude I want Washington Gaelic. All are welcome!

Sounds cool, will you write the charter? Also, if you'd recruit a Irish dancing teacher for PE that would be AWESOME.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The big picture here is about young, yuppie liberals of all races deciding they are going to reverse the tragedy of white flight by moving east of the Park in DC.

We have a new and fragile trend over this decade, and particularly over the past few years, of all types of yuppies moving in and trying real, real hard to put their kid in public and charter schools in DC east of the Park rather than just opting for the suburbs (or Wards 2 or 3) when the kids hit 4 or 5 or ponying up for ridiculous private schools.

Reversing white flight requires critical masses of these families to put their kids in DC schools of some stripe or another east of the Park. A school that effectively concentrates and separates a subgroup of the yuppie families dilutes that fragile critical mass.

And a sustainable reversal of white flight builds bridges between the successful liberal yuppies who are moving in and the dysfunctional poor families around them and east of them. DC charter schools need genuinely open programs that, while diverse in approach, truly interest the yuppie families in staying and interest poor longtime DC families in truly bettering the lives of their children.

Look, we're not going to live in some magic integrated world; it's been proven we only want that to a limited extent due to cultural and class affiliation, etc. But we have to try harder than people have in past generations.

We're a bunch of young, committed yuppie liberals who decided to move into a city that turned into a despicable ghetto and think we can make it livable. We should work in solidarity as much as we can to promote positive trends in this city.

If we were all in it for ourselves, we would just save up and make our own "white flight" west of the Park or out of the City. I know this board is full of snark, crassness, spite and anger, but deep down we all want to serve both our consciences and our self-interest and prove that progress is possible.

It's not so fragile. 41% of the city's students are currently educated in charter schools. One more charter proposal going before the board isn't going to hurt anyone. If they decide it's a valid proposal, then they will approve it. I'm sure in the years leading up to Yu Ying's approval, people thought there wouldn't be much demand for that school in this city's population. They were obviously wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can pretend that we live in a world we don't live in, or we can face reality and live in the world in which we do. Name a city in which black and white people live in harmony, side by side, ebony and ivory style. Name a school that your kids go to where the lunchrooms arent divided on color lines. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.

That said, the families that would send their kids to a school that, by your argument, "concentrates a certain slice of white students" (which has yet to be proven but is probably true for 75% of students) arent going to be otherwise integrating with the rest of DC anyway. They are going to either a) go private or b) leave the city.

The capitol of the free world should not be a place where residents of the city have to leave the city in order to educate their children. Promoting families such as those in question staying in DC when their kids get to school age is absolutely in the best interests of DC as a whole.

When did you move to DC? I have lived here since the 80s, and it was a real shithole then. After the King riots, there was white flight that lasted for a long time. People didnt live in Chinatown, people didnt live in Adams Morgan, many parts of the Hill, along much of 14th Street (dont want to name all of the Logan Circles, etc.). DC was the murder capital of the country. Our nations capital was the city with the most murders in the country. People came downtown to work and then went home to the suburbs, or to small enclaves in small parts of the Hill, or Upper NW.

But educated middle and above class families--black and white--have moved back to DC in the past 20-some years. This demand for housing is what has revitalized the aforementioned neighborhoods, and what brings much-needed tax dollars to the city. Ultimately, more tax dollars coming into the city helps *all* of the residents of the city--rich, poor, and in between.

So yes, I feel that if Washington Hebrew School keeps some middle to upper middle class families in the city vs moving to the suburbs where they can get a good free education for their kids, it is a good thing for the city as a whole.

This.

The Capital of the Free World should have a broad and exceptional selection of education options. Spanish is good, French is good, Chinese is good, Latin is good. Hebrew would be good. Arabic would be good. A multi-lingual HS combination of all the above would be good.

This isn't Chicago or Portland or Iowa City. It should be showcase for the country and the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is, a cul-de-sac school that concentrates a certain slice of white students of means is not an overall good thing for an already unequal city.

It is that many more families who get to say they don't need to make an effort to integrate with the rest of DC.

While people can claim to have established a neutral principle in favor of this school, it clearly would promote inequality in practice.

This! I participated in a discussion earlier in this thread about this point.

The references to anti-semitism and Shylock are pretty sleazy, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, if any of you posters crying "anti-semitism!" any time an argument fails to go your way would show up to oppose the "Christian Mythology" and "Take the Christ Out of Christmas" threads, you'd look a lot less hypocritical.

[Anonymous]

anti-semitism poster here. honestly, i only click on the threads that have titles that are relevant to my daily life. christian mythology is not. take the christ out of christmas is not. nor is an eggnog milkshake at mcdonalds because i am currently trying to watch what i eat.

[Anonymous]

See, I just reject the idea that this would be a "cul-de-sac" school. If it's a good school, folks from all over the city would apply to send their kids there. And like every other charter, parents who can afford to live in bounds for a good school and those easily able to pay for private will be under-represented.

[Anonymous]

It simply infuriates me to be called an anti-Semite when I have substantive reasons for disagreeing with you. I spent a lot of time on another thread yesterday defending affirmative action, even though it most definitely hurts my white kids, because I strongly believe in certain progressive educational policies. I support charters, BTW, unless they serve to resegregate, which is why I was agreeing with the other PP. I hope you can at least try to understand why your "anti-Semite" blasts are infuriating, and don't reflect very well on you either.

[Anonymous]

Ditto on the previous post. I think a Hebrew immersion school is an inappropriate use of public charter school dollars for the same reason that I think a school based on an in-depth examination of the Kurdish culture and language, or an Ireland-themed school, or an immersion school taught in Old German (as spoken by some Mennonite/Old Order groups) would be inappropriate. Rather than draw a broad-based group of potential students, it seems like to appeal to a relatively small, self-selected group of people, defined largely along religious, ethnic, or cultural lines, who predominantly want to educate their own children in a particular skill set of interest but to do so using public funds. If you wouldn't support a Kurdish immersion school in D.C., I'm hard-pressed to see how I'm supposed to support a Hebrew immersion school. That doesn't make me an anti-Semite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ditto on the previous post. I think a Hebrew immersion school is an inappropriate use of public charter school dollars for the same reason that I think a school based on an in-depth examination of the Kurdish culture and language, or an Ireland-themed school, or an immersion school taught in Old German (as spoken by some Mennonite/Old Order groups) would be inappropriate. Rather than draw a broad-based group of potential students, it seems like to appeal to a relatively small, self-selected group of people, defined largely along religious, ethnic, or cultural lines, who predominantly want to educate their own children in a particular skill set of interest but to do so using public funds. If you wouldn't support a Kurdish immersion school in D.C., I'm hard-pressed to see how I'm supposed to support a Hebrew immersion school. That doesn't make me an anti-Semite.

Are they "public charter school dollars" though? Or are they a portion of a family's tax dollars being used in a way they choose?

[Anonymous]

You don't get to decide whether your federal income tax dollars are spent on wars or healthcare - congress and the president make this decision. Similarly, the DC charter school board, not some DCUM thread, will set the parameters of you charter school choices. Taxes and spending are collective decisions in a democracy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: the DC charter school board, not some DCUM thread, will set the parameters of you charter school choices. [/quote

Then why so much energy devoted to this thread?

[Anonymous]

I fully support a Kurdish charter school. And I really want an Amharic immersion school.

If charter schools actually operated the way they're sold, with a family carefully examining all the models and sending their child to the school that fit his/her learning style (and the family's values), then a Hebrew immersion school might serve as both a brain drain on other schools and an ethnic enclave. But that isn't how charters work right now,.and I really don't expect them to start working that way anytime soon. Instead, patents apply to any and every school that might work and that is better than the alternative (IB DCPS or current charter), and live with the ways that it isn't perfect for their family. If Washington Hebrew is any good, it'll be the second choice for lots of families with zero interest in Hebrew, and because their first choice will be unavailable, they'll enroll and learn to love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: the DC charter school board, not some DCUM thread, will set the parameters of you charter school choices. [/quote

Then why so much energy devoted to this thread?

Because people keep saying things I find ridiculous, and I want to explain why they're wrong. (Yeah, I know it won't work.)