BASIS DC in THE CURRENT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If BASIS can find that magic balance of rigor, bringing failing kids up to grade level, and engaging parents of these kids, then they will have a model to be copied in every inner city.

The median household income for DC might be 58$, but if you broke that down by ward, you'd get wildly different figures. That's more important when we talk about "achievement" and "DCPS failing our kids." I'm not sure why people are always looking to the schools to fix what poverty and racism have already stacked against many DC students. Schooling is only a partial fix of the broader problem.

I am not so sure that one can blame racism on all or even most of the ills of the subset of African Americans who totally diss education especially in a city that was majority black for quite some time and a city that provides probably the best social safety net and opportunities for those who need and want them when compared to the rest of the country.

I thing most of the blame at this point is dissing education and poor parenting by this subset, period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hype hype HOORAY! Hype hype HOORAY!

I think BASIS will live up to a lot of the hype. Not all of it, but enough.

Considering that even Deal doesn't have the built-in demographic advantages of their flagship Tucson school (which the boosters keep hyping ad nauseum) I don't share your enthusiasm. In fact, it makes me wonder if you share our former Mayor's pharmaceutical addiction.

As a tax-payer, I'll be happy to be proved wrong, but the fantasy DC rival to TJ? I'll wager against that big-time.

From a previous post on the topic of supposed "demographic advantages":

Tucson has been repeatedly portrayed as though it were some wealthy dream demographic.

The fact is, the demographic in Tucson and the other Basis locations are far from perfect.

Tucson and DC make an interesting case study for comparison, since they are nearly the same population, though Tucson is a bit more spread-out, lower population density. DC has 598,391, Tucson has 545,166.

DC does not even remotely have anywhere near the hispanic and non-native English speaking population that Tucson does - Tucson is nearly half hispanic, with a great many for whom Spanish is their primary language. Tucson has more divorcees and single parents than DC does. Tucson has a greater percentage of school-age children, and larger households, but a smaller percentage of working-age adults, and a greater percentage of elderly than DC does. As such, Tucson has more mouths to feed and less to go around coming from the working populace. Median household income for Tucson: $35,565, Median household income for DC is $58,526.

In terms of costs, about the only big thing that stands out is that housing costs are about twice as much in DC as Tucson (but then again, DC salaries are typically double what Tucson salaries are). All other cost-of-living aspects are generally equal, groceries and utilities are slightly higher in DC, but healthcare and other goods and services are slightly higher in Tucson.

More violent crime in DC, commensurate with their respective population densities, but Tucson is by no means not without a significant amount of violent crime and in fact has more burglaries and other types of crimes than DC does. Poverty rates are similar between both cities, 18-20%, but unemployment rates are higher in Tucson.

So no, DC is not Tucson, but in many ways DC actually has more going for it than Tucson does, and so much for that fantasy demographic that the other poster seems to have stuck in his or her head.

Stop it, you hack. Do you think everyone is stupid enough to not understand the cost of living difference between DC and... Tucson?

Face it, Basis in AZ is a suburban paradise school. It might as well be FFX or MoCo. It is nothing like DC. Keep lying to yourself if you like, but every time you try to blow smoke up everyone else's ass, you're going to be met with rejection. Go figure.

Now go eat your peyote buttons with your Tucson friends and keep telling yourself your shit doesn't stink in DC.

Here's a clueless idiot who obviously hasn't been reading the news, otherwise she/he might know that Arizona is overrun by Mexican gangs and cartels. Hell, it was already bad enough 20 years ago when I lived there, and it's gotten far worse now. There are more unemployed people in Tucson than there are here in DC. There are more single parents, more elderly, more robberies in Tucson than there are in DC. You must be a product of DCPS because reading comprehension is not your strong suit and you don't seem to get out much to know what's going on elsewhere in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If BASIS can find that magic balance of rigor, bringing failing kids up to grade level, and engaging parents of these kids, then they will have a model to be copied in every inner city.

The median household income for DC might be 58$, but if you broke that down by ward, you'd get wildly different figures. That's more important when we talk about "achievement" and "DCPS failing our kids." I'm not sure why people are always looking to the schools to fix what poverty and racism have already stacked against many DC students. Schooling is only a partial fix of the broader problem.

There's a lot less "stacked against DC students" than there is in Tucson. DC has far more mandated affordable housing and housing subsidies, as well as many social safety net programs that are lacking in Tucson. Take for example the National Capital Area Combined Federal Campaign, which raised 64 million dollars from federal employees, a huge chunk of of which went to help the poor in DC last year. Tucson has nothing like that. People in DC have nothing on people in Tucson, because Tucson's social safety net and programs to help the poor are nowhere near as strong as they are in DC. Coming from someone who grew up poor, someone who knows what it's like to be without a home and survive for months on nothing but beans and rice during hard times years ago, it sure seems to me that "poor" people in DC take what they have for granted and have no clue how good they have it compared to other places around the country. DC is a paradise for the poor, compared to most parts of the country.

Time to quit making excuses.

[Anonymous]

Is it less disadvantageous to live in AZ or DC? I would rather be poor in DC than poor in AZ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it less disadvantageous to live in AZ or DC? I would rather be poor in DC than poor in AZ.

+1

The "poor" in DC don't know or appreciate how good they have it, as compared to the rest of the country.