SO: How do you fit into a poor or primarily minority public school

[Anonymous]

It does not help that we have a President who is doing everything he can to divide this country along racial and economic lines

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does not help that we have a President who is doing everything he can to divide this country along racial and economic lines

Yawn. Name one thing. One actual thing, not a made up, Fox News thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not help that we have a President who is doing everything he can to divide this country along racial and economic lines

Yawn. Name one thing. One actual thing, not a made up, Fox News thing.

HaHa...
yea...he's changing his cabinet to bring in new members....all of them Members of the New Black Panthers...he's also resurrecting Marcus Garvey from the dead and making him head of the Federal Reserve!

[Anonymous]

get this political shit out of her

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You go elsewhere.

I feel bad saying it, but it's the reality. Your white, wealthy kid might be ok in PreK, but even by K the other kids will make his life miserable. We had to leave a school that was great on paper, but socially horrible. Some people will remember me posting before, about the kids who invited my five-year-old "get your white ass out of here".

That's terrible.

Does this hold true with just inner city DC or do other races or cultures welcome Caucasians more ( I am thinking maybe the Hispanic population in south arlington and other primarily hispanic areas)

I am not sure Hispanics would be actively welcoming, but I am pretty sure they would never be as offensive. My best advice would be to find a truly diverse school, meaning people of multiple nationalities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You go elsewhere.

I feel bad saying it, but it's the reality. Your white, wealthy kid might be ok in PreK, but even by K the other kids will make his life miserable. We had to leave a school that was great on paper, but socially horrible. Some people will remember me posting before, about the kids who invited my five-year-old "get your white ass out of here".

That's terrible.

Does this hold true with just inner city DC or do other races or cultures welcome Caucasians more ( I am thinking maybe the Hispanic population in south arlington and other primarily hispanic areas)

I am not sure Hispanics would be actively welcoming, but I am pretty sure they would never be as offensive. My best advice would be to find a truly diverse school, meaning people of multiple nationalities.

Ugh why do people INSIST on thinking any group of people is operates via "GROUPTHINK" ...they all think and act alike...geez

[Anonymous]

wow that is sad to hear that is happening at that age

my black sons preschool classmates were white, latino and asian and surprisingly for Southern PG he was one of a handful of black kids...they just love playing together...I don't even think they notice race and we definitely do not mention it at home. It is his friend Roberto or Billy...not his white friend or latino friend.

I think being a minority white person in a diverse private school may be a better match...maybe minorities with similar SES/education level of parents.

I am black but similar concerned about sending my black children to a majority black or majority minority school because 1) that is just not the real world and 2) just because we share a complexion...we do not have a lot in common with many lower SES/lower educated/one parent household families that may be in a majority minority public school. I live in Southern PG (for now) and every family that is similar to ours with respect to economic class/family structure/values about education/values about how you behave/highly educated parents that we have made friends with here are not planning to do or are not doing public school...so the similar situated black and latino and asian and white people who we have met in Southern PG are either moving or going private. That kind of skews the public school experience of who is left in one direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wow that is sad to hear that is happening at that age

my black sons preschool classmates were white, latino and asian and surprisingly for Southern PG he was one of a handful of black kids...they just love playing together...I don't even think they notice race and we definitely do not mention it at home. It is his friend Roberto or Billy...not his white friend or latino friend.

I think being a minority white person in a diverse private school may be a better match...maybe minorities with similar SES/education level of parents.

I am black but similar concerned about sending my black children to a majority black or majority minority school because 1) that is just not the real world and 2) just because we share a complexion...we do not have a lot in common with many lower SES/lower educated/one parent household families that may be in a majority minority public school. I live in Southern PG (for now) and every family that is similar to ours with respect to economic class/family structure/values about education/values about how you behave/highly educated parents that we have made friends with here are not planning to do or are not doing public school...so the similar situated black and latino and asian and white people who we have met in Southern PG are either moving or going private. That kind of skews the public school experience of who is left in one direction.

+1 from a white parent on the SES/values thing. I could honestly not care less about color. I just want to know that my child will be in school with other children whose parents have decent values and emphasize education. It depends on the area you're from. Where I grew up most schools are majority white but there are some I wouldn't send my kid to precisely for this reason.

[Anonymous]

pp here
find like minded parents and their kids
maybe the PTA will be an outlet for finding the active like minded parents and their kids
I know there are some parents that are just like us and do choose public and choose to be very involved and try to push for a good education for their kids. I know a doctor that lives over here that is trying to do just that in a 4 rated school nearby. That kind of parent and their kids may share a common ground with you to connect with

[Anonymous]

So the two things I am getting from this thread are

1) if black kids are mean at 1 school...they will be mean at other schools

2) most poor people have different values than people with higher income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is our situation at my local elementary. In my son's class this year, there were 6 out of 25 white children. Only one of those white families had more money than we do. The rest of the class was a mix of different minorities and SES.

We are in a transitional neighborhood so I imagine the numbers will shift at some point.

Maybe because it is that we are only recently so well-off, but everything seemed fine. I was glad my child did not gravitate right to the only other white children in class; the kids all seem to play together. I didn't notice any self-segregation.

Outside of school is slightly different. Many of the kids my son wanted to play with had parents who didn't speak english or who work weekend shifts and just couldn't do it.

I am not sure, even after all this babbling, though, what your question is exactly?

Please, do tell....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From reading the the Langley thread we all know that if you are not part of the majority rich your child will be shunned.

What do you do if you are faced with the opposite situation of a poor or primarily minority public school and you are white and more fortunate to have money?

Do we know that? Lots of assumptions and inferences here. Boring day?

[Anonymous]

I went to a DCPS in the 1980s that was very diverse. I was white, there were a few other white girls per grade, and the rest were a mix of latino/Asian/black (I say black as a more inclusive term because some were from Africa etc). The plurality was black. We all played together wonderfully. It was great. I think the key is to find a place that is racially balanced and small. If the girls in each grade had said "I will be friends only with other white or other latinos or other Asians" they would only have had two friends per class. Some of the kids were poor, others were minorities but middle class.

[Anonymous]

I live in an area where white kids, like mine, are the minority in the school, although my immediate neighborhood is predominately white. These have been schools with high percentage of FARMS students, as well. My kids who are now in high school, have never complained about being the minority, nor have they ever had a lack of friends. In fact, I often usually have idea what ethnic background the classmates they talk about are until I actually meet them. There is a lot kids from different cultures can learn about one another, and my kids do not have prejudices against kids who are a different color or race. The kids at their schools also have been accepting of each other -- there has never been pressure to having the right clothes, or teasing about glasses or braces, or many of the pressures to conform that I experienced in my school years.

There are good and bad kids at every school, and wealth does not play a role in that. After years of working with children in the schools, I can tell you that some of the kids from the most modest backgrounds have been the most appreciative, well-mannered children, by far.

I never realized how scared a lot of people are about people who are different than them, until I started visiting these forums; it is very sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in an area where white kids, like mine, are the minority in the school, although my immediate neighborhood is predominately white. These have been schools with high percentage of FARMS students, as well. My kids who are now in high school, have never complained about being the minority, nor have they ever had a lack of friends. In fact, I often usually have idea what ethnic background the classmates they talk about are until I actually meet them. There is a lot kids from different cultures can learn about one another, and my kids do not have prejudices against kids who are a different color or race. The kids at their schools also have been accepting of each other -- there has never been pressure to having the right clothes, or teasing about glasses or braces, or many of the pressures to conform that I experienced in my school years.

There are good and bad kids at every school, and wealth does not play a role in that. After years of working with children in the schools, I can tell you that some of the kids from the most modest backgrounds have been the most appreciative, well-mannered children, by far.

I never realized how scared a lot of people are about people who are different than them, until I started visiting these forums; it is very sad.

I agree with everything you said completely. I also agree with the PP a few posts earlier who had the two takeaways from this discussion that mean black kids at one school automatically mean all black kids are mean and that poor people have different (read: bad) values than wealthy people. Sad commentary.