Integration and DC Schools -- A high priority? Yay or nay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

All of you idiots that think you can read others minds and that they're just as prejudiced as you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

All of you idiots that think you can read others minds and that they're just as prejudiced as you are.

Meanwhile you think we're too stupid to tell that what you are thinking when you make so little effort to hide it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

I don't think anyone thinks it's a good thing that DC has a huge number of rich people and a huge number of poor people, but it's one of the defining characteristics of the city. The PP gave you actual numbers. But there are lots of other stats you can choose from. DC is not like most cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

Do you even live here? DCPS makes no secret of the fact that it focuses on kids at the very bottom. A lot of families who aren't rich or poor find that very frustrating because they feel like the school system ignores their kids' needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

Do you even live here? DCPS makes no secret of the fact that it focuses on kids at the very bottom. A lot of families who aren't rich or poor find that very frustrating because they feel like the school system ignores their kids' needs.

Honestly, I could be on board with that approach if they were actually doing a good job at it. Instead, they just evoke that as a justification to do nothing at the Mayor/Chancellor/Council level. There are some specific schools (eg Moten) that buck the trend, but as a whole DC is not doing a good job at this ostensible focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

All of you idiots that think you can read others minds and that they're just as prejudiced as you are.

Meanwhile you think we're too stupid to tell that what you are thinking when you make so little effort to hide it.

I'm aware that you're very stupid because I hear your conversations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

I don't think anyone thinks it's a good thing that DC has a huge number of rich people and a huge number of poor people, but it's one of the defining characteristics of the city. The PP gave you actual numbers. But there are lots of other stats you can choose from. DC is not like most cities.

PP provided one actual number. Your feeling about how DC is different from other cities, with no info about the demographics of other cities, is not persuasive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

All of you idiots that think you can read others minds and that they're just as prejudiced as you are.

Meanwhile you think we're too stupid to tell that what you are thinking when you make so little effort to hide it.

I'm aware that you're very stupid because I hear your conversations.

I'm sorry, are you still trying to prove that other people cannot tell that you disdain them? We can tell!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

I don't think anyone thinks it's a good thing that DC has a huge number of rich people and a huge number of poor people, but it's one of the defining characteristics of the city. The PP gave you actual numbers. But there are lots of other stats you can choose from. DC is not like most cities.

PP provided one actual number. Your feeling about how DC is different from other cities, with no info about the demographics of other cities, is not persuasive.

Have you heard of the Gini coefficient? It's a way they measure how much income inequality there is in a given area. DC routinely ranks as among the worst, if not the worst in the country. We have an extreme level of income inequality in this city. You can be obtuse and say you don't believe it, but this is a bit like saying you don't believe the sun rises in the East. It's a fact and no one disputes it (except for you, I guess). It's been true of DC for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

All of you idiots that think you can read others minds and that they're just as prejudiced as you are.

Meanwhile you think we're too stupid to tell that what you are thinking when you make so little effort to hide it.

I'm aware that you're very stupid because I hear your conversations.

I'm sorry, are you still trying to prove that other people cannot tell that you disdain them? We can tell!

The question was if people don't assume someone middle class is middle class. Has nothing to do with PP being extremely stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

Truly absurd. We are definitely raised to use “feel” to define middle class status. Instead of just using math and saying top 20% of wealth = upper class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy in DC today gets = typical middle class life of 30-40 years ago.

Nope, but many of us are aware this is what you tell yourself to justify calling yourself middle class when you are not.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people grew up being told they were middle class by their parents, who were also not middle class. Like maybe they were for a minute when their parents were really young, but these are people with white collar parents who bought real estate and invested in the stock market in the 80s and now have a lot of money. None of their family is middle class. But they cling to this self perception of being middle class because they remember eating TV dinners when they were 6 and their dad was still a resident, or their parents didn't have real money until they were 14 or 15 and vacations went from road trips to the jersey shore to multi-week European vacations. It's like a weird self-delusion.

Yes there are richer people and those people do NOT send their kids to DCPS. But this idea that you are middle class because you don't own a vacation home in Aspen is freaking weird. Some of you need some perspective.

There are relatively few middle class people in DC. We have a ton of rich people and a ton of poor people and not many in the middle. If you live West of the park, and don't live in a tiny apartment, you almost certainly are not middle class.

There are plenty of actual middle class people in DC. It's just that people struggle to look past race to see it.

Middle class black and hispanic families (there are tons) are viewed as poor by most white people. But they aren't. I know many such families with HHIs in probably the 90-150k range. Solidly middle class.

Middle class white families are often just assumed to be wealthier than they are, by other white families and by black and hispanic families. But they have similar incomes to the middle class black and hispanic families. I'd say on average the middle class white families probably have a little more money than the middle class black/hispanic families (maybe 130-190k). But, again, solidly middle class.

These are people who, like my family, live in apartments or less expensive housing in neighborhoods far from metro, or east of the river. Some of us were able to purchase real estate (condos or east of the river homes) before rates went up, so we are building wealth, but our homes are not appreciating the way the homes of wealthier people in the area, plus we are dealing with 30 yr mortgages and lower incomes so we pay a larger portion of our incomes to housing. We mostly have cars by necessity (a major difference between us and poor and working class families in DC, many of whom must rely on public transit even from neighborhoods that are poorly served). We take basic vacation, save for college but in a much more modest way than the rest of you, and MUST send our kids to public schools -- there is no other option.

We know we are often invisible to you at school. Either because you misperceive our socioeconomic status (again, assuming if we are black or brown then we must be poorer than we are, and assuming if we are white then we must be richer than we are) or because of that specific kind of situational blindness privileged people have where they only really "see" other privileged people because that is who you consider a peer and therefore the only sort of person you compare yourself to or view yourself in league with.

Ok, well, as an empirical matter, DC has a lot of people with very low incomes (one-fifth of the city get food stamps) and a lot of people with very high incomes (we have proportionately the most people in the country with at least $5 million in assets) so our middle class is smaller than what you typically see elsewhere.

Uh, if you want to be empirical about it, you are going to have to provide actual numbers because I do not actually believe that DC has a smaller middle class than other cities. I think that's just a self serving argument for people who want the public school system to cater to the needs of poor people and the whims of rich people and ignore everyone in between.

Check out the CFO reporting, the biggest tax paying group in terms of N is the second highest tax bracket. The vast majority of the density is over 100k