Lakewood and Stone Mill Elementary - high % of Asians?

[Anonymous]

My non-Asian child went to Lakewood and it was wonderful. I was very involved in extra-curriculars (coached a rec sports team and led scouts) and I met many wonderful parents of all races and neither me nor my child felt left out of anything. I never felt judged, only supported.

[Anonymous]

2nd Gen Asian here. I wouldn't send my kid to a 50% school. I think it's great in terms of developing a positive cultural identity and having lots of friends who "get" being immigrants or children of immigrants but 50% doesn't represent what our kids will see in the real world. I'd look for a school with a lower % Asian - not too low that my kid is isolated but not too high that my kid only is making friends with Asians and thinks that's how it is in higher Ed and the work force (or worse, being biased against non - Asians). My HS growing up over indexed for Asians but it also had plenty of white, black and Hispanic students. I made friends with everyone and it's helped when navigating relationships and work in the real world.

[Anonymous]

I think there can be real advantages to being in a school with a very large concentration of your child's race.

At most of the MCPS schools the % is so low that your child ends up being "the only" which is really hard and your identity and having to explain things like why your eyes or lunch look funny to the other kids. One thing I have liked is that when you go to schools where Asians make up like 5-10% there are so many stereotypes that hurt your child's development. Leadership positions and awards are given to white and Black students while Asians may only be praised for their math ability.

At a school like Lakewood and Stone Mill Asians can be good or bad at math, good or bad at sports, and everything in between. I like seeing that kind of diversity and I think it is good for my child to see that too.

[Anonymous]

I meant One thing that I have not liked when you go to schools with a lower concentration of Asians is that there are a lot of stereotypes...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I meant One thing that I have not liked when you go to schools with a lower concentration of Asians is that there are a lot of stereotypes...

So true similar experience at a different ES. Our kid was good at math and proud of it but the comments of his peers were astonishingly mean. Parents knew what their kids were saying to our kid yet did not do anything. Jewish kid, Catholic kid whatever any can be mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I meant One thing that I have not liked when you go to schools with a lower concentration of Asians is that there are a lot of stereotypes...

That's very true. Growing up I made friends with Asian kids at schools with lower concentrations of Asians, including my own. They commonly made a lot of self deprecating jokes about Asian stereotypes and it was very common for them to be the target of teasing.

Then I went to college and made friends with a lot of kids who went to well-regarded schools with high Asian pop. They found those kinds of jokes very offensive. Their schools were a totally different environment.

Wootton and its feeders are great schools. People pay a lot of money to buy homes zoned to them because that kind of an environment is so hard to find. The complaints in this thread and the idea of avoiding high achieving kids will never not be funny to me, sorry. Where my family is from people would give anything for such an opportunity. People do occasionally speak Chinese around me sometimes but somehow I manage to survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2nd Gen Asian here. I wouldn't send my kid to a 50% school. I think it's great in terms of developing a positive cultural identity and having lots of friends who "get" being immigrants or children of immigrants but 50% doesn't represent what our kids will see in the real world. I'd look for a school with a lower % Asian - not too low that my kid is isolated but not too high that my kid only is making friends with Asians and thinks that's how it is in higher Ed and the work force (or worse, being biased against non - Asians). My HS growing up over indexed for Asians but it also had plenty of white, black and Hispanic students. I made friends with everyone and it's helped when navigating relationships and work in the real world.

I don’t think schools need to represent what they will see in real world. You don’t know what real world they will go in. Chances are that their future careers and places to live would be heavily concentrated with Asians as they tend to focus on STEM majors. Growing up with their own ethnic group has a big advantage in building confidence in identity which the current second generation of Asians lack as there weren’t so many Asians when they grew up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. My parents bought a home in a school district that was 86 percent Jewish and as a Catholic I was not invited to anything and left out. No bullying etc. just left out

Same here. Grew up in a heavily Jewish area and as non-Jews I and my siblings(Reform and Conservative, no Orthodox) were never invited to anything outside of school time.

I made sure my own kids were not raised in such a neighborhood. Ours is pretty mixed of everyone.

[Anonymous]

^^^
parentheses obviously in the wrong place!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm moving to the DC area this year and in the market for a house in the Rockville/Potomac area. I'm curious about Lakewood and Stone Mill. The % of Asians at both is around 50% which is quite high, and I've heard there's a large Chinese community. Does anyone know whether it's mostly first generation immigrants? Asking as a 2nd generation Chinese American who mostly speaks English at home, and doesn't intend to foster the same type of academic intensity as 1st generation immigrants may be inclined to do (like my parents did with me).

Is there a reason to be dissuaded from moving into the school zone based on the demographics? I don't want to throw my kids into an overly competitive environment in elementary school. What are people's experiences who have kids who went here?

I hope this doesn't come across as racist or insensitive in any way...I'm genuinely wondering about how it might impact the school and my kid's experience. I have plenty of Asian friends, both first generation and not, but 50% just seems like a lot.

My opinion, don’t do it. The communities at these schools are a majority of first generation immigrants and at school events all parents talk to each other in Chinese. If you don’t speak Chinese fluently you will be left out.
I am a second generation south Asian parent and it’s difficult for me to talk with the Chinese parents bc they form there own “clique” at school events and chat groups and talk to each other in Chinese. For example, I was at one elementary school event and talking with a Asian parent who I though was friendly, her Asian friend came and they were totally ignoring me and rudely talk in Chinese in the middle of our conversation. It was very demeaning and quite shocking.
All The kids are all friendly with each other at school but I have noticed the Chinese community doesn’t really hang out or do play dates after school with other kids bc they are over schedules withMusic lessons or after school,academic classes. The kids also “miss” out on a lot of bday parties invites if the bday kid is not chinese , anyways these are my observation for the past 5 years. Please research further OP and make your own decisions.

Even with 50% Asians, there are about only about 20% chinese (at least at lakewood). There are Indians, Koreans, south Asians, etc. Within this 20% Chinese, there are at least a quarter who are not first generation. The school is very diverse and not one group dominates.

[Anonymous]

Folks,sometimes families don't have the time and energy to go out of their way to be friendly to you. Also cultural norms are differrnt than ours here. Being an immigrant carries its own challenges. those families may not even know they are being dismissive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm moving to the DC area this year and in the market for a house in the Rockville/Potomac area. I'm curious about Lakewood and Stone Mill. The % of Asians at both is around 50% which is quite high, and I've heard there's a large Chinese community. Does anyone know whether it's mostly first generation immigrants? Asking as a 2nd generation Chinese American who mostly speaks English at home, and doesn't intend to foster the same type of academic intensity as 1st generation immigrants may be inclined to do (like my parents did with me).

Is there a reason to be dissuaded from moving into the school zone based on the demographics? I don't want to throw my kids into an overly competitive environment in elementary school. What are people's experiences who have kids who went here?

I hope this doesn't come across as racist or insensitive in any way...I'm genuinely wondering about how it might impact the school and my kid's experience. I have plenty of Asian friends, both first generation and not, but 50% just seems like a lot.

My opinion, don’t do it. The communities at these schools are a majority of first generation immigrants and at school events all parents talk to each other in Chinese. If you don’t speak Chinese fluently you will be left out.
I am a second generation south Asian parent and it’s difficult for me to talk with the Chinese parents bc they form there own “clique” at school events and chat groups and talk to each other in Chinese. For example, I was at one elementary school event and talking with a Asian parent who I though was friendly, her Asian friend came and they were totally ignoring me and rudely talk in Chinese in the middle of our conversation. It was very demeaning and quite shocking.
All The kids are all friendly with each other at school but I have noticed the Chinese community doesn’t really hang out or do play dates after school with other kids bc they are over schedules withMusic lessons or after school,academic classes. The kids also “miss” out on a lot of bday parties invites if the bday kid is not chinese , anyways these are my observation for the past 5 years. Please research further OP and make your own decisions.

+1

Agree most of the above is true. I am also 2nd generation Chinese but speak Cantonese and also excluded by those that speak Mandarin. They are congregate together at school functions and only speak Chinese. They usually don’t associate with non-Mandarin speakers. The immigrants are very cliquish. They are very competitive and have their kids in music, sports, Kumon and Chinese school on the weekends. Wootton is called Wonton for a reason. Very heavily Asian because at one point had reasonably priced real estate. To be honest, stay away from any school that feeds into a W school. Cutthroat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm moving to the DC area this year and in the market for a house in the Rockville/Potomac area. I'm curious about Lakewood and Stone Mill. The % of Asians at both is around 50% which is quite high, and I've heard there's a large Chinese community. Does anyone know whether it's mostly first generation immigrants? Asking as a 2nd generation Chinese American who mostly speaks English at home, and doesn't intend to foster the same type of academic intensity as 1st generation immigrants may be inclined to do (like my parents did with me).

Is there a reason to be dissuaded from moving into the school zone based on the demographics? I don't want to throw my kids into an overly competitive environment in elementary school. What are people's experiences who have kids who went here?

I hope this doesn't come across as racist or insensitive in any way...I'm genuinely wondering about how it might impact the school and my kid's experience. I have plenty of Asian friends, both first generation and not, but 50% just seems like a lot.

My opinion, don’t do it. The communities at these schools are a majority of first generation immigrants and at school events all parents talk to each other in Chinese. If you don’t speak Chinese fluently you will be left out.
I am a second generation south Asian parent and it’s difficult for me to talk with the Chinese parents bc they form there own “clique” at school events and chat groups and talk to each other in Chinese. For example, I was at one elementary school event and talking with a Asian parent who I though was friendly, her Asian friend came and they were totally ignoring me and rudely talk in Chinese in the middle of our conversation. It was very demeaning and quite shocking.
All The kids are all friendly with each other at school but I have noticed the Chinese community doesn’t really hang out or do play dates after school with other kids bc they are over schedules withMusic lessons or after school,academic classes. The kids also “miss” out on a lot of bday parties invites if the bday kid is not chinese , anyways these are my observation for the past 5 years. Please research further OP and make your own decisions.

+1

Agree most of the above is true. I am also 2nd generation Chinese but speak Cantonese and also excluded by those that speak Mandarin. They are congregate together at school functions and only speak Chinese. They usually don’t associate with non-Mandarin speakers. The immigrants are very cliquish. They are very competitive and have their kids in music, sports, Kumon and Chinese school on the weekends. Wootton is called Wonton for a reason. Very heavily Asian because at one point had reasonably priced real estate. To be honest, stay away from any school that feeds into a W school. Cutthroat!

Stay away from all the W schools? Is that W for wonton or white?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm moving to the DC area this year and in the market for a house in the Rockville/Potomac area. I'm curious about Lakewood and Stone Mill. The % of Asians at both is around 50% which is quite high, and I've heard there's a large Chinese community. Does anyone know whether it's mostly first generation immigrants? Asking as a 2nd generation Chinese American who mostly speaks English at home, and doesn't intend to foster the same type of academic intensity as 1st generation immigrants may be inclined to do (like my parents did with me).

Is there a reason to be dissuaded from moving into the school zone based on the demographics? I don't want to throw my kids into an overly competitive environment in elementary school. What are people's experiences who have kids who went here?

I hope this doesn't come across as racist or insensitive in any way...I'm genuinely wondering about how it might impact the school and my kid's experience. I have plenty of Asian friends, both first generation and not, but 50% just seems like a lot.

My opinion, don’t do it. The communities at these schools are a majority of first generation immigrants and at school events all parents talk to each other in Chinese. If you don’t speak Chinese fluently you will be left out.
I am a second generation south Asian parent and it’s difficult for me to talk with the Chinese parents bc they form there own “clique” at school events and chat groups and talk to each other in Chinese. For example, I was at one elementary school event and talking with a Asian parent who I though was friendly, her Asian friend came and they were totally ignoring me and rudely talk in Chinese in the middle of our conversation. It was very demeaning and quite shocking.
All The kids are all friendly with each other at school but I have noticed the Chinese community doesn’t really hang out or do play dates after school with other kids bc they are over schedules withMusic lessons or after school,academic classes. The kids also “miss” out on a lot of bday parties invites if the bday kid is not chinese , anyways these are my observation for the past 5 years. Please research further OP and make your own decisions.

+1

Agree most of the above is true. I am also 2nd generation Chinese but speak Cantonese and also excluded by those that speak Mandarin. They are congregate together at school functions and only speak Chinese. They usually don’t associate with non-Mandarin speakers. The immigrants are very cliquish. They are very competitive and have their kids in music, sports, Kumon and Chinese school on the weekends. Wootton is called Wonton for a reason. Very heavily Asian because at one point had reasonably priced real estate. To be honest, stay away from any school that feeds into a W school. Cutthroat!

I guess the most racist is second generation to first generation immigrants. Don’t you know their English is not great?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm moving to the DC area this year and in the market for a house in the Rockville/Potomac area. I'm curious about Lakewood and Stone Mill. The % of Asians at both is around 50% which is quite high, and I've heard there's a large Chinese community. Does anyone know whether it's mostly first generation immigrants? Asking as a 2nd generation Chinese American who mostly speaks English at home, and doesn't intend to foster the same type of academic intensity as 1st generation immigrants may be inclined to do (like my parents did with me).

Is there a reason to be dissuaded from moving into the school zone based on the demographics? I don't want to throw my kids into an overly competitive environment in elementary school. What are people's experiences who have kids who went here?

I hope this doesn't come across as racist or insensitive in any way...I'm genuinely wondering about how it might impact the school and my kid's experience. I have plenty of Asian friends, both first generation and not, but 50% just seems like a lot.

My opinion, don’t do it. The communities at these schools are a majority of first generation immigrants and at school events all parents talk to each other in Chinese. If you don’t speak Chinese fluently you will be left out.
I am a second generation south Asian parent and it’s difficult for me to talk with the Chinese parents bc they form there own “clique” at school events and chat groups and talk to each other in Chinese. For example, I was at one elementary school event and talking with a Asian parent who I though was friendly, her Asian friend came and they were totally ignoring me and rudely talk in Chinese in the middle of our conversation. It was very demeaning and quite shocking.
All The kids are all friendly with each other at school but I have noticed the Chinese community doesn’t really hang out or do play dates after school with other kids bc they are over schedules withMusic lessons or after school,academic classes. The kids also “miss” out on a lot of bday parties invites if the bday kid is not chinese , anyways these are my observation for the past 5 years. Please research further OP and make your own decisions.

+1

Agree most of the above is true. I am also 2nd generation Chinese but speak Cantonese and also excluded by those that speak Mandarin. They are congregate together at school functions and only speak Chinese. They usually don’t associate with non-Mandarin speakers. The immigrants are very cliquish. They are very competitive and have their kids in music, sports, Kumon and Chinese school on the weekends. Wootton is called Wonton for a reason. Very heavily Asian because at one point had reasonably priced real estate. To be honest, stay away from any school that feeds into a W school. Cutthroat!

I guess the most racist is second generation to first generation immigrants. Don’t you know their English is not great?

Maybe the 2nd Gen parents can lead the school's PTA and "mentor" the school's 2nd gen students if these students' 1st gen parents are incapable or unwilling to serve on the PTA? The children have assimilated and could use 2nd Gen adult leaders to assist and look up to. ?