Study: "Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum" (yes, this one)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this was really about race, you'd see daycares being segregated too. (Why would all these supposedly racist people wait until elementary or high school to start being racist?)

But has anyone ever heard of a black daycare? Or a predominantly white daycare?

No, no one has ever heard of that.

That's because this isn't about race. This is about public schools in DC being awful and people not wanting to send their kids to awful schools.

Oh, but that discussion is about nannies v. daycare.

i have kids and honestly ive never met anyone who has a nanny. people with nannies seem rare.

That's because we aren't rich. The people who I know with nannies are like my ob/gyn, my boss, etc. Or maybe think not individual nannies, but nanny-shares. Or maybe think au pairs.

But the dialogue there seems to be that the BEST thing is to have a nanny or au pair, then the next is to have a nanny share, then daycares. These discussions are likely also racially coded, in the sense that race and class go hand-in-hand, particularly in DC.

I think you're missing the point. The larger point here is that daycares are extremely diverse (at least all the ones I've ever come into contact with), and that shouldnt be the case if everyone is supposedly as racist as people on this thread to seem assume.

DP. One can opt to send their 8 month old to a diverse daycare or even have a black nanny. I am a “what’s wrong with Banneker poster” and I have to say, I still don’t think people opting out of Banneker are outright racist. Again, they wouldn’t live in DC, Petworth, Columbia Heights if that were the case. They wouldn’t send their kid to even Wilson. The issue is, there is definitely something racially motivating driving some white families to not look at Banneker. I see it happen all the time. White people are fine with a safe number of people that don’t look like them, but when it gets closer to 75-80%, the comfort level changes. There have been many studies in here that show white families, all things equal, will choose to self-segregate or even have racial components e a driving factor for them. Let’s admit, many of the racial issues of our entire country are due to “some” white men dealing with the fact that they are losing their power in numbers and are realizing they are no longer going to be a majority in this country.

I am not asking families to opt into a failing Eastern as some people keep taking about. I’m simply asking for a reason people don’t look at a top 100 school that’s centrally located with metro accessibility.

Because Banneker isn't 75-80% non-white, it's 98% non-white. It would take a very self-confident student who is super comfortable not only with being the "only" but also with dealing with their own biases and having those conversations to attend Banneker as a 2%-er. I want you to consider your own white kids and if you would expect them to attend Banneker - not only they need to be that amazingly racially sensitive and honestly a standout human, but also willing to take on the workload and style of Banneker!

The other alternative is to band together a small group of white kids to attend Banneker - that would be an interesting social experiment but sounds a lot like let's gentrify Banneker.

I admit I would LOVE my kid to be that one kid who feels totally awesome at Banneker. Thanks for giving me a goal. But living in DC, that's not likely. This ish is hard.

[Anonymous]

Thought experiment: Wipe Ward 3 off the map — the people and the schools. What would DCPS residents think of DCPS? What would they want improved and how should DCPS go about it? What about charters?

Given a school system seriously challenged in many ways, it does seem a little weird that people spend so much time and energy faulting the individual choices of one stereotyped segment of the city.

[Anonymous]

Jeez people here are really obsessed with Banneker. Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the article being bad.


The one question I have for everyone is if wealthy white parents don’t segregate then why is there such a low number of white kids at Banneker? In all my years of living in DC and reading DCUMs, this is the one school that supports the argument.

Glad you brought this up. No doubt some students/families don’t apply to Banneker for various reasons rooted in systemic racism, overt racism, etc. but I do wonder (my kid is many, many years away from high school) if we applied would we be negatively impacting the school. I mean, this is a pretty great school that now serves mostly Black and brown students and if all of us white families started going there, we’d kind of destroy that culture, right? I’d hate to be the white family cashing in on the good thing Black and brown families built. But I’d be curious what others thought. Maybe I’m over analyzing.

It's racist to send your white kids to Banneker. It's also racist to not send your white kids to Banneker. It's even more racist if you don't have any kids to send to Banneker.

Just stop it. We all know why white parents aren't sending their kids to Banneker, and it isn't to "protect" the school. It's because the school is virtually all black and and white parents don't want that for their kids. Yes, it's racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the article being bad.


The one question I have for everyone is if wealthy white parents don’t segregate then why is there such a low number of white kids at Banneker? In all my years of living in DC and reading DCUMs, this is the one school that supports the argument.

Glad you brought this up. No doubt some students/families don’t apply to Banneker for various reasons rooted in systemic racism, overt racism, etc. but I do wonder (my kid is many, many years away from high school) if we applied would we be negatively impacting the school. I mean, this is a pretty great school that now serves mostly Black and brown students and if all of us white families started going there, we’d kind of destroy that culture, right? I’d hate to be the white family cashing in on the good thing Black and brown families built. But I’d be curious what others thought. Maybe I’m over analyzing.

It's racist to send your white kids to Banneker. It's also racist to not send your white kids to Banneker. It's even more racist if you don't have any kids to send to Banneker.

Just stop it. We all know why white parents aren't sending their kids to Banneker, and it isn't to "protect" the school. It's because the school is virtually all black and and white parents don't want that for their kids. Yes, it's racism.

+1

I do hope this holds through as I want a spot for my kid in a few years at Banneker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS - I have to say when people say they don’t want to disrespect the sanctity of the HBCU atmosphere at Banneker, it’s quite insulting. Especially given the gentrification that already happens in this city in so many other parts of the city.

The only response I want to hear and would respect is that you don’t want your child to be an only. It’s a practical and respectable response. However, I would counter that response by asking why can’t some families rally together like that did with Hardy to make it so they’re not an only. I imagine if today Banneker published demographics showing 8% white, the number of applicants would go up 1000% in just one year.

do you think it’s racist for white kids not to apply to HBCUs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the article being bad.


The one question I have for everyone is if wealthy white parents don’t segregate then why is there such a low number of white kids at Banneker? In all my years of living in DC and reading DCUMs, this is the one school that supports the argument.

Glad you brought this up. No doubt some students/families don’t apply to Banneker for various reasons rooted in systemic racism, overt racism, etc. but I do wonder (my kid is many, many years away from high school) if we applied would we be negatively impacting the school. I mean, this is a pretty great school that now serves mostly Black and brown students and if all of us white families started going there, we’d kind of destroy that culture, right? I’d hate to be the white family cashing in on the good thing Black and brown families built. But I’d be curious what others thought. Maybe I’m over analyzing.

It's racist to send your white kids to Banneker. It's also racist to not send your white kids to Banneker. It's even more racist if you don't have any kids to send to Banneker.

Just stop it. We all know why white parents aren't sending their kids to Banneker, and it isn't to "protect" the school. It's because the school is virtually all black and and white parents don't want that for their kids. Yes, it's racism.

and it white parents were going en masse to Banneker you’d call them gentrifiers

[Anonymous]

This debate is great -- I'm really interesting in reading about people endlessly accusing each other of being racist -- but I think it would be super dope if my kids could actually attend school five days a week. You know, like how most of other children in the United States get to go to a school each day?

[Anonymous]

Many of you must have young children if you think it is so easy to make a decision about choosing Banneker as a HS. I encouraged my daughter to apply to Banneker but she refused saying she did not want to be an only. We are Asian by the way. Older kids have very strong opinions that are also somewhat shaped by their peers and the society they live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the article being bad.


The one question I have for everyone is if wealthy white parents don’t segregate then why is there such a low number of white kids at Banneker? In all my years of living in DC and reading DCUMs, this is the one school that supports the argument.

Glad you brought this up. No doubt some students/families don’t apply to Banneker for various reasons rooted in systemic racism, overt racism, etc. but I do wonder (my kid is many, many years away from high school) if we applied would we be negatively impacting the school. I mean, this is a pretty great school that now serves mostly Black and brown students and if all of us white families started going there, we’d kind of destroy that culture, right? I’d hate to be the white family cashing in on the good thing Black and brown families built. But I’d be curious what others thought. Maybe I’m over analyzing.

It's racist to send your white kids to Banneker. It's also racist to not send your white kids to Banneker. It's even more racist if you don't have any kids to send to Banneker.

Just stop it. We all know why white parents aren't sending their kids to Banneker, and it isn't to "protect" the school. It's because the school is virtually all black and and white parents don't want that for their kids. Yes, it's racism.

I'm white. I'd be happy to send my kids to Banneker (though they're currently too young). At the same time, I don't understand how Banneker has been transformed in this thread into some paragon of education. It seems like a fine school. Nothing spectacular. But fine, especially compared to the many, many terrible schools in DC.

Are other white people racist for not sending their kids to Banneker? I don't know. I don't know who these other white people are or what their motivations are and wouldn't want to speculate. Why should I care though what they do? Why are people so obsessed with this? I wish people put this much energy into trying to reopen our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS - I have to say when people say they don’t want to disrespect the sanctity of the HBCU atmosphere at Banneker, it’s quite insulting. Especially given the gentrification that already happens in this city in so many other parts of the city.

The only response I want to hear and would respect is that you don’t want your child to be an only. It’s a practical and respectable response. However, I would counter that response by asking why can’t some families rally together like that did with Hardy to make it so they’re not an only. I imagine if today Banneker published demographics showing 8% white, the number of applicants would go up 1000% in just one year.

do you think it’s racist for white kids not to apply to HBCUs?

Not PP, but I don't think it's the same. You're looking for a high school within a few miles of your house, but that doesn't describe most people who go to residential colleges, so you just have a much wider set of options at the college level. If your HS list is "Wilson, SWW, BASIS, or Latin, or else private school/we move," then you're willing to pay a really big price to avoid your kid being one of the only white kids in a way that you're not if you're doing a national (or even regional) college search and avoiding HBCUs.

[Anonymous]

Banneker is a decent school but only within DCPS would it be considered excellent. In most states, it would be mediocre. But DC unfortunately has settled for low standards. I don’t understand why Banneker kids don’t go to better colleges. You can accuse me of being ratings obsessed but the fact is it does matter where you go to college especially for minority and low income kids. The ivys are over-hyped but it is well known that they can make a huge difference for poor, first gen and minority kids. For upperclass white kids, where they go matters a bit less. I think Banneker is underperforming for the kids they claim to serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this was really about race, you'd see daycares being segregated too. (Why would all these supposedly racist people wait until elementary or high school to start being racist?)

But has anyone ever heard of a black daycare? Or a predominantly white daycare?

No, no one has ever heard of that.

That's because this isn't about race. This is about public schools in DC being awful and people not wanting to send their kids to awful schools.

Oh, but that discussion is about nannies v. daycare.

i have kids and honestly ive never met anyone who has a nanny. people with nannies seem rare.

That's because we aren't rich. The people who I know with nannies are like my ob/gyn, my boss, etc. Or maybe think not individual nannies, but nanny-shares. Or maybe think au pairs.

But the dialogue there seems to be that the BEST thing is to have a nanny or au pair, then the next is to have a nanny share, then daycares. These discussions are likely also racially coded, in the sense that race and class go hand-in-hand, particularly in DC.

I think you're missing the point. The larger point here is that daycares are extremely diverse (at least all the ones I've ever come into contact with), and that shouldnt be the case if everyone is supposedly as racist as people on this thread to seem assume.

DP. One can opt to send their 8 month old to a diverse daycare or even have a black nanny. I am a “what’s wrong with Banneker poster” and I have to say, I still don’t think people opting out of Banneker are outright racist. Again, they wouldn’t live in DC, Petworth, Columbia Heights if that were the case. They wouldn’t send their kid to even Wilson. The issue is, there is definitely something racially motivating driving some white families to not look at Banneker. I see it happen all the time. White people are fine with a safe number of people that don’t look like them, but when it gets closer to 75-80%, the comfort level changes. There have been many studies in here that show white families, all things equal, will choose to self-segregate or even have racial components e a driving factor for them. Let’s admit, many of the racial issues of our entire country are due to “some” white men dealing with the fact that they are losing their power in numbers and are realizing they are no longer going to be a majority in this country.

I am not asking families to opt into a failing Eastern as some people keep taking about. I’m simply asking for a reason people don’t look at a top 100 school that’s centrally located with metro accessibility.

Because Banneker isn't 75-80% non-white, it's 98% non-white. It would take a very self-confident student who is super comfortable not only with being the "only" but also with dealing with their own biases and having those conversations to attend Banneker as a 2%-er. I want you to consider your own white kids and if you would expect them to attend Banneker - not only they need to be that amazingly racially sensitive and honestly a standout human, but also willing to take on the workload and style of Banneker!

The other alternative is to band together a small group of white kids to attend Banneker - that would be an interesting social experiment but sounds a lot like let's gentrify Banneker.

I admit I would LOVE my kid to be that one kid who feels totally awesome at Banneker. Thanks for giving me a goal. But living in DC, that's not likely. This ish is hard.

dude this is the life of black people like every day, figuring out how to navigate 98% white spaces they manage to be "amazingly racially sensitive and honestly a standout human"

white people can do it too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS - I have to say when people say they don’t want to disrespect the sanctity of the HBCU atmosphere at Banneker, it’s quite insulting. Especially given the gentrification that already happens in this city in so many other parts of the city.

The only response I want to hear and would respect is that you don’t want your child to be an only. It’s a practical and respectable response. However, I would counter that response by asking why can’t some families rally together like that did with Hardy to make it so they’re not an only. I imagine if today Banneker published demographics showing 8% white, the number of applicants would go up 1000% in just one year.

do you think it’s racist for white kids not to apply to HBCUs?

Not PP, but I don't think it's the same. You're looking for a high school within a few miles of your house, but that doesn't describe most people who go to residential colleges, so you just have a much wider set of options at the college level. If your HS list is "Wilson, SWW, BASIS, or Latin, or else private school/we move," then you're willing to pay a really big price to avoid your kid being one of the only white kids in a way that you're not if you're doing a national (or even regional) college search and avoiding HBCUs.

Yes, it’s the same. There are many very good HBCUs (Howard just to name one) and nobody calls white kids racist for not applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS - I have to say when people say they don’t want to disrespect the sanctity of the HBCU atmosphere at Banneker, it’s quite insulting. Especially given the gentrification that already happens in this city in so many other parts of the city.

The only response I want to hear and would respect is that you don’t want your child to be an only. It’s a practical and respectable response. However, I would counter that response by asking why can’t some families rally together like that did with Hardy to make it so they’re not an only. I imagine if today Banneker published demographics showing 8% white, the number of applicants would go up 1000% in just one year.

do you think it’s racist for white kids not to apply to HBCUs?

Not PP, but I don't think it's the same. You're looking for a high school within a few miles of your house, but that doesn't describe most people who go to residential colleges, so you just have a much wider set of options at the college level. If your HS list is "Wilson, SWW, BASIS, or Latin, or else private school/we move," then you're willing to pay a really big price to avoid your kid being one of the only white kids in a way that you're not if you're doing a national (or even regional) college search and avoiding HBCUs.

Yes, it’s the same. There are many very good HBCUs (Howard just to name one) and nobody calls white kids racist for not applying.

This is DC. Everyone calls everyone racist FOR EVERYTHING.