My daughter is the only white girl in her grade: ask me anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does she get along with the black students at her school?

She gets along well with them. One of her best friends is a black boy whose birthday is close to hers. They have a homework club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is your oldest, I assume?

She is an only child. Why do you ask?

Because your responses show. Just wanted to confirm.

Okay. I don't see how it's relevant. I have one child. I will likely not have another child for medical reasons. How does this relate to my experience?

[Anonymous]

I'm sitting here trying to guess the school. Anyone want to take a shot? Cleveland, Powell or BMPV? I'm sure we have parents on here who attend all of these schools to know this information.

Or is it MMB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is your oldest, I assume?

She is an only child. Why do you ask?

Because your responses show. Just wanted to confirm.

Okay. I don't see how it's relevant. I have one child. I will likely not have another child for medical reasons. How does this relate to my experience?

I think they are wondering if you have any other school experiences to compare hers to. That's all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she aware that she is "different"?

Sometimes. She is aware that she does not speak Spanish like many of her friends. She also knows that she has different hair. Other than that, no.

Aren't latino's white?

Did anyone come to her birthday party?

Yes, Latinos are "white" but I don't think most people on this board would consider a school like mine to be diverse because we have 60% Latino students and 30% African American students.

Yes, people came to her birthday. It was 12 kids, 5 of whom came from her school and the rest were kids of my and DH's friends. She was also invited to their birthday parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Usually, people here say they're seeking diversity. Is that not something you value?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she aware that she is "different"?

Sometimes. She is aware that she does not speak Spanish like many of her friends. She also knows that she has different hair. Other than that, no.

Aren't latino's white?

Did anyone come to her birthday party?

NP. Yes, Zoe Saldana, Jimmy Smits, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, and LaLa Anthony are white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is your oldest, I assume?

She is an only child. Why do you ask?

Because your responses show. Just wanted to confirm.

Okay. I don't see how it's relevant. I have one child. I will likely not have another child for medical reasons. How does this relate to my experience?

It's relevant because at some point (soon) you will have to deal with the difference between your idealistic views and the reality of what your DD will have to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much diversity is there in the teaching ranks? How many white kids in the other grades?

This is actually something I'm not thrilled with. There is very limited diversity in the teaching ranks. We have a lot of young white women teaching. I was complaining about this to my father (who teaches in a university department that sees a lot of elementary education majors), and he basically told me that it wasn't fair to hold the school accountable for the demographics of the profession.

The lower grades are more diverse. The upper grades are diverse in that they have decent splits of African American kids, Latino kids, and a small but not insignificant population of Asian kids of various extractions, but no white kids above first as far as I'm aware.

Which school is this? I'm married to a Vietnamese man so I can only guess -- PG county and the only Asians are Vietnamese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is your oldest, I assume?

She is an only child. Why do you ask?

Because your responses show. Just wanted to confirm.

Okay. I don't see how it's relevant. I have one child. I will likely not have another child for medical reasons. How does this relate to my experience?

I think they are wondering if you have any other school experiences to compare hers to. That's all.

Ah. No, I do not. She was in a daycare that was "more diverse" in that there were more white and Asian kids, but many fewer black or Latino kids. Also they were babies, so it's less relevant socially anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she aware that she is "different"?

Sometimes. She is aware that she does not speak Spanish like many of her friends. She also knows that she has different hair. Other than that, no.

Aren't latino's white?

Did anyone come to her birthday party?

NP. Yes, Zoe Saldana, Jimmy Smits, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, and LaLa Anthony are white.

Race and ethnicity 101 time. Latinos can be multiple races. You have Latinos from Spain who look basically white; and you have Latinos from the DR who look basically black; and you have Latinos from Mexico who look indigenous. The new trend in collecting data on Latinos is to let them indicate their Latino ethnicity and chose a race or nationality as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is your oldest, I assume?

She is an only child. Why do you ask?

Because your responses show. Just wanted to confirm.

Okay. I don't see how it's relevant. I have one child. I will likely not have another child for medical reasons. How does this relate to my experience?

It's relevant because at some point (soon) you will have to deal with the difference between your idealistic views and the reality of what your DD will have to deal with.

I don't see how that relates to how many kids I have. Does your experience suddenly change because you have 2 kids in a school instead of 1?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much diversity is there in the teaching ranks? How many white kids in the other grades?

This is actually something I'm not thrilled with. There is very limited diversity in the teaching ranks. We have a lot of young white women teaching. I was complaining about this to my father (who teaches in a university department that sees a lot of elementary education majors), and he basically told me that it wasn't fair to hold the school accountable for the demographics of the profession.

The lower grades are more diverse. The upper grades are diverse in that they have decent splits of African American kids, Latino kids, and a small but not insignificant population of Asian kids of various extractions, but no white kids above first as far as I'm aware.

Which school is this? I'm married to a Vietnamese man so I can only guess -- PG county and the only Asians are Vietnamese.

I'm not going to name the school, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much diversity is there in the teaching ranks? How many white kids in the other grades?

This is actually something I'm not thrilled with. There is very limited diversity in the teaching ranks. We have a lot of young white women teaching. I was complaining about this to my father (who teaches in a university department that sees a lot of elementary education majors), and he basically told me that it wasn't fair to hold the school accountable for the demographics of the profession.

The lower grades are more diverse. The upper grades are diverse in that they have decent splits of African American kids, Latino kids, and a small but not insignificant population of Asian kids of various extractions, but no white kids above first as far as I'm aware.

Which school is this? I'm married to a Vietnamese man so I can only guess -- PG county and the only Asians are Vietnamese.

I was curious about that too. It's an odd combination. Usually Asians move away from blacks/Lations heavy schools.

[Anonymous]

Do you use DCPS aftercare? How is it?

Do you have a longer term plan for jr high and high school?

Are the Latino kids pretty stable or do they move in and out a lot?