Disappointed with lack of diversity at a top school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I doubt the Obamas are getting financial aid at Sidwell.

Right, but on paper they add to "diversity" - even though they are really not different, profile-wise, from their majority-white-and-affluent peers.

Diversity is about much more than skin color, especially in this (affluent) area, where many children grow up not realizing that their (privileged) lives are not the norm. Adding different skin tones to the mix doesn't add to diversity in any real way if the people with those skin tones come from similarly privileged situations.

[Anonymous]

15:47 pp again. I should clarify that my school had a fair amount of non AA minorities. There were many Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern families in my school district, but they were also usually some of the most wealthy families.

[Anonymous]

I'm still not really understanding this "economic diversity" argument very well. I recognize there is benefit in children understanding that not everyone has access to the same benefits in life, and understanding the implications -- for example, some struggle more, some struggle less, don't take your own advantages and opportunities for granted because many never have them, don't let anyone disrespect you no matter how much money she has, and we all do the best we can with what we have. But are people arguing that private schools ought to engage in some sort of "economic diversity" outreach to ensure that a certain percentage of each class is from families making less than the regional average (or something like that)? Is that what you mean by "economic diversity"? Isn't that what these schools have financial aid programs for? If you want more economic diversity, isn't the solution that you should give more to the financial aid fund (or lobby your school to earmark more money for financial aid)?

And I understand the concern about children drawing unfair and unwarranted connections between race and economic status, but that's not really relevant to the "economic diversity" issue, is it? The financial aid funds are available to all children accepted at the school, regardless of race, aren't they?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]New poster here. I must be stupid, but I'm not understanding some of the code words on this thread. Maybe someone can help me.

"Socioeconomic" diversity? Do you mean families making less than $100,000/year? Less than $50,000? (Sorry to be so explicit about dollar amounts, but I find that mushy words like "middle class" don't really help clarify anything, since most consider themselves middle-class.) Or are you going the other direction, and saying you want you child exposed to more multi-millionaires? (And does it really matter that much? Don't we all poop sitting down?)

"Lifestyle" diversity? I'm guessing you mean gay and lesbian parents, but I'm not sure. Is that what you mean? Or are you really talking about how different people live their lives, so (for example) someone who grew up on a farm is diverse as compared to kids that grew up in the city?

"Geographic" diversity? Do you mean kids that grew up in Arlington instead of McLean? Bethesda instead of Potomac? Virginia instead of Maryland? Isn't any "geographic" diversity going to be severely hindered by where any school is actually located? I assume no one is suggesting that a school in Virginia lacks diversity because most of the students live in Virginia. Are you?

"Religious" diversity. I think I understand this one. I suspect though that it follows pretty easily if a school achieves diversity from a race/nationality perspective.

I'm not trying to start a fight on any of these topics. I really just wanted to be a little more clear about all the euphemisms being tossed around.

Personally, I believe that as long as schools are offering fair opportunities to all applicants (e.g., outreach to encourage applications from groups not already represented in the student body, and reasonable financial aid for those who cannot otherwise afford to pay), most of the other diversity issues will sort themselves out. I'm not a big fan of schools selecting applicants based on quotas of diversity (no matter how many different types of diversity we list). Perhaps I'm naive though.

Any explanation of these more obscure categories of diversity would be much appreciated. I feel like everyone knows the secret diversity code except me.[/quote]



Not a stupid question at all. I think many people will define it all differently. Here's a nutshell summary:

Socioeconomic: The combination of social standing and earning power. Options other than a rich white family that lives in McLean with 2 professional parents.

LIfestyle: Families without the traditional father/mother family unit. Includes single parent, gay/lesbian, grandparents, etc.

Geographic: Pulling kids in from other metro areas. VA schools do pull alot of kids in from DC and MD, btw. Top privates don't want all their kids from the surrounding areas.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

How does anyone know who's getting and who's paying the full fee? What a lie. Do you really want to say that white children aid may not get it because they will give it to a minority child who needs it first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does anyone know who's getting and who's paying the full fee? What a lie. Do you really want to say that white children aid may not get it because they will give it to a minority child who needs it first?

Sorry it should say white children who need aid may not get it because it will be given to a minority student instead?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Not a stupid question at all. I think many people will define it all differently. Here's a nutshell summary:

Socioeconomic: The combination of social standing and earning power. Options other than a rich white family that lives in McLean with 2 professional parents.

LIfestyle: Families without the traditional father/mother family unit. Includes single parent, gay/lesbian, grandparents, etc.

Geographic: Pulling kids in from other metro areas. VA schools do pull alot of kids in from DC and MD, btw. Top privates don't want all their kids from the surrounding areas.

Hope this helps.[/quote]
Thanks for the tutorial on code words. I'm still not understanding though. Are you saying "top" private schools ought to assess all these factors for each applicant and ensure each class shows appropriate diversity among all these different categories? That seems like a tall order to me. Are you saying they already do this? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps some of the "economic" diversity refers to an increasing gap in income between the FA students and the non FA students. Yes, everyone refers to themselves as middle class, but there's a roaring gap between a family earning 60,000-125,000 and the income of most of the non FA students. Yes, there are many posting on these boards about scrimping in all other realms, and putting every extra cent they have toward tuition. We're one of those families. But there are very, very few families at our school who give such a large percentage of their income toward tuition ( & modest housing). There was another thread on this recently. Sorry OP- somewhat off track here.

[Anonymous]

[quote]Thanks for the tutorial on code words. I'm still not understanding though. Are you saying "top" private schools ought to assess all these factors for each applicant and ensure each class shows appropriate diversity among all these different categories? That seems like a tall order to me. Are you saying they already do this? Thanks in advance. [quote][color=cyan][/color][/quote]


Diversity is such a big buzz word with schools these days. As our world becomes more global and interconnected, schools feel they need to prepare students for "real life" by enhancing diversity. I think each school has their own definition of diversity and where they put the emphasis. I don't think that there are given standards for them to meet. Maybe their Board determines the definition of diversity for them. What we really need is someone in Admissions who does this for a living and can comment on it.

I see different levels of diversity depending upon the school. At our old school, there were lots of single and gay parents. No Asians at all - probably due to the fact that they tend to gravitate towards very demanding and structured schools and the former school is progressive in nature. No international kids but a good number of DC kids as well as PG County. At our new school, the majority of families have traditional father/mother head of households. Very few single and G/L parent couples to be found. Tons of international families. More of a concentration of families within VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top schools in the VA/D.C./ MD area -- TJ and Blair Magnet -- are the very diverse, public and they have 5 to 12 times more National Merit semifinalists per year than any elite private school in the area. Either school, alone, has more National Merit semifinalists than all the "Big 3, or Big 5 or Big 10" combined. You might want to try these options if you want fine scholarship and diversity.

At Blair, the diversity *within* the magnet [about 200 kids?? - can't remember] is limited if you mean African American. There are many Americans of Asian descent, and of South Asian descent. More of these two groups than Caucasian. We discuss why this may be the case - probably the greater value placed on academic excellence in those communities. The African Americans at Blair are in the high school as a whole. So while I fully understand the desire to promote the public magnet programs (indeed, my DC almost went there - was 2nd on our list), at Blair anyway the problem of "diversity" as most people would find it is not solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My spouse teaches at one of the Big Three, and one of the students there once asked why only minority people are poor."
That's horrible. How old was the kid?

I don't necessarily see the question as "horrible." Maybe PP will clarify the context. Couldn't this just be a kid's clumsy way of asking about the fairly complex issue of why different racial groups seem to be stuck in different income brackets in the United States? For example, why does the average AA family make only about half of what the average Asian family makes? If you take the question seriously, answering it could take an entire semester. Seems like in interesting "teaching moment."

I totally agree with the response offered here. Of course the student had an impression that s/he picked up somewhere. And it could have been an African American child for all we know (the poster seems to have felt we'd all know the student who asked the question was white, which is probably what leads people to think it is a "horrible" question). The fact is, exposure to white poverty is not nearly as common, especially in our area, as exposure to minority poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My spouse teaches at one of the Big Three, and one of the students there once asked why only minority people are poor."
That's horrible. How old was the kid?

I don't necessarily see the question as "horrible." Maybe PP will clarify the context. Couldn't this just be a kid's clumsy way of asking about the fairly complex issue of why different racial groups seem to be stuck in different income brackets in the United States? For example, why does the average AA family make only about half of what the average Asian family makes? If you take the question seriously, answering it could take an entire semester. Seems like in interesting "teaching moment."

Child was ten, and it was a bona fide question. Child had (accurately) observed that this Big Three's student population was indeed diverse (in its context), but that from what the child could tell, the only kids receiving financial aid were non-white. (I don't know how child would have known this, but the comment was made.)

Spouse observes that there is a lot of talk talk talk about welcoming diversity, but when it comes right down to it, the subject of economic diversity is really not addressed, and in fact, avoided as it seems to make people uncomfortable. Diversity is really a surface issue. The white child from a lower-middle class neighborhood is, therefore, highly unlikely to be admitted and given aid, as such child would not add to the "diversity" (i.e., the kind Big Three is looking for).

Also, can't speak for the 'burbs, but there isn't much of a white working-class in DC. So a white kid might be more likely to see things as whites being middle and upper income while blacks are poor and working class. But there is a well-established black middle and upper middle class in DC and the suburbs. Are these folks not at these schools? Or is a 10-year-old white kid likely to perceive all blacks as being poor and working class? I don't pretend to know who gets financial aid at dd's school (not a "big 3") but I know that some of the black kids are middle and upper income.

[Anonymous]

I wonder what happened to OP?

[Anonymous]

She's probably pretty drunk right now and is kicking herself for checking the yes box on dear child's acceptance letter.

[Anonymous]

Move out to the suburbs and go to public school. We have tons of diversity of my child's school and it really is a great school. We have both ethinic, racial, and lifestyle diversity. Kids in our school come from $1 Million plus homes as well as though below the poverty line.