So are you willing to give up quality of education for diversity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what you call quality of education. Lots of schools mainly have higher test scores because of lack of diversity but not because the school itself is so great.

Exactly. The two things are not mutually exclusive. A school with lower scores might actually have better teachers, while the school made up of mostly high SES kids gets high scores because SES is the single biggest predictor of test scores. Also, I think that it's useful for a kid to learn to deal with people from different backgrounds, races, etc.--it's a global world, and diversity is a fact of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
First, ratings don't automatically translate to quality of education.

Second, school is about more than education, but about learning to get along with everyone as preparation for the outside world. Wealthy white districts do not offer the best long-term experience.

Third, it's always best to cough up the money to have both diversity AND education quality. But what if you can't?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what you call quality of education. Lots of schools mainly have higher test scores because of lack of diversity but not because the school itself is so great.

+1000000
This is so true.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I believe that my child's education is better if he is in a diverse environment. I believe that instilling a sense of racial grievance and anxiety so much that I would purposefully move him to an all-white school would be bad for his development and success. I want to convey to him that success comes from within and doesn't require perfecting his environment in any particular way. For that reason, even though I could afford to say move to Bethesda, I will not. I prefer him to go to a school like Blair or Wilson, where I believe he will receive a better education in part because of diversity.

[Anonymous]

People justify diversity sir to affordability

[Anonymous]

no

but with all else being equal, I'd prefer for them to go to the school with more diversity. it's kind of gross to be out of touch with reality.

[Anonymous]

I am a black parent of 3 kids who have attended schools with varying levels of diversity (racial and economic) but that were all considered high quality. Please know that quality and diversity are not mutually exclusive. My kids have attended schools that were 5% black and schools that were 95% black.... they have attended public and private schools..... they have attended schools that are considered high poverty and schools that are considered elite.... but every single school without exception was academically rigorous and excellent quality. There is no perfect school, I happen to be very lucky to be able to expose my kids to all kinds of people and experiences in and out of school so I do not rely on school diversity as much as others may, but is it important to me? HELL YES!!! Honestly speaking most schools in America are not diverse... people tend to go to school where they live and most neighborhoods are not diverse.... people tend to live around other people that look and have similar income levels as they do. My youngest (who is in middle school) is probably attending the most racially diverse school that any of my kids have gone to... it is 50% white, 5% black, and 45% other racial minorities (mostly asian) but it is also probably one of the least socioeconomically diverse schools, everyone is pretty much upper/middle income. In my opinion, the lack of economic diversity is something that as a parent I need to be aware of so that my kid does not think that he is entitled to any and everything just because we can afford it and so that he does not treat people who cannot afford the same things as less than.

If you think that lower income or non-white schools automatically mean lower quality schools, I suggest you get out of your bubble.

[Anonymous]

Hells to the no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I consider learning about other cultures, and other economic situations, and learning skills for dealing with diverse populations to be an essential part of a good education.

I feel that it's easier for me, as an adult with strong educational credentials, to supplement what my kid is learning academically at home than it is to socially engineer their friendships.

I don't consider seeing people at the grocery store to be all comparable to having someone in your class, seeing them day in and day out, and interacting with them all day.

Agree completely. I am confident my kids will learn academics and I know I can help with that. I cannot manufacture empathy and understanding of people from diverse backgrounds- ethnically, culturally, socioeconomically, etc. We lotteried for a DCPS EOTP title 1 school- no other choices. No plan to leave.

+1. Also, this is a false discussion anyway. I could send my kid to the best school in the city (private) but we'd have to cut back on a lot of things to pay the tuition. I'm not going to do that. So, I'm "choosing" to send him to a "worse" (and more diverse) school.

I think that many parents weight a variety of factors when choosing a school, including fit, cost (if any), diversity, academics, proximity, and the kid's learning style.

Would I send my son to a failing school just because of diversity? No. But when weighing my neighborhood school (diverse, decent, maybe not the best fit, traditional) with, say, a montessori charter a little farther away with a less diverse population, I will consider diversity as one of the factors in making my decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what you call quality of education. Lots of schools mainly have higher test scores because of lack of diversity but not because the school itself is so great.[/quote

it's really that simple. if you believe that quality of education is adequately enough measured by standardized tests (which i do), then you need to look at scores by demographic categories. there exist schools which have overall somewhat lower great schools ratings but their scores are higher for each demographic category. this is the educational effect of the school and they also happen to be more diverse. so there is really no trade-off involved.

[Anonymous]

if you believe that quality of education is adequately enough measured by standardized tests (which i do), then you need to look at scores by demographic categories. there exist schools which have overall somewhat lower great schools ratings but their scores are higher for each demographic category. this is the educational effect of the school and they also happen to be more diverse. so there is really no trade-off involved.

[Anonymous]

It may not be popular or PC or what ever the hell is in vouge right now, but I would never knowingly place my child in a low performing school for the sake of social diversity. I know a family that has done this and it, shall we say, is not going well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I consider learning about other cultures, and other economic situations, and learning skills for dealing with diverse populations to be an essential part of a good education.

I feel that it's easier for me, as an adult with strong educational credentials, to supplement what my kid is learning academically at home than it is to socially engineer their friendships.

I don't consider seeing people at the grocery store to be all comparable to having someone in your class, seeing them day in and day out, and interacting with them all day.

Agree completely. I am confident my kids will learn academics and I know I can help with that. I cannot manufacture empathy and understanding of people from diverse backgrounds- ethnically, culturally, socioeconomically, etc. We lotteried for a DCPS EOTP title 1 school- no other choices. No plan to leave.

Agree. Kids from high SES families do well regardless of where they go to school. As a person who grew up in a white wealthy small town, it took me years to learn not to be uncomfortable around people from different class and racial backgrounds. That kept me from living in and exploring parts of cities that "didn't feel safe" because I would be an outsider. Easier to stay in the upper NW part of DC than to risking going to Anacostia which is actually a nice little neighborhood. Fortunately that has changed for me and it has been liberating. I did not want my child to grow up fearful of large swaths of the city like I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what you call quality of education. Lots of schools mainly have higher test scores because of lack of diversity but not because the school itself is so great.

This doesn't make any sense. Higher test scores are usually highly correlated with great schools. This is not to say schools with lower test scores don't have great things about them, but all things being equal, high test scores are a reliable arbiter of school quality.

[Anonymous]

No. I want the highest rated schools. I do not care about diversity at all. When diversity stops meaning poor, dangerous, underperforming schools with a high number of ESL kids, I'll reconsider. Until then, my kids can experience diversity outside of school.