What do you think about a Japanese Immersion Public Charter in Ward 7?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on the language choice of Japanese is that there are no schools or classes, public or private, offered within DC's boundaries geared toward elementary school aged children. Japanese would be another language choice for DC parents. Also, there are kids classes, schools, and programs in DC for all the languages mentioned in this thread geared toward the non-native speaker. If a parent wanted their children to learn Arabic, Chinese, French, or Spanish in DC, there are options. I cannot speak about the number of available seats at the Hebrew school. Maybe there are other issues at play. I think Japanese and Korean are interesting language choices to introduce to DC parents. By the way, Japanese is identified as a Critical Needs language.

So start a Japanese language school with afternoon and weekend classes. The fact that there are none at the moment speaks volumes about the demand for such classes...

This gives you an idea of demand for Japanese kids classes. This school is not the only one that has waitlist.

http://jcfourseasons.com/summer_session
http://jcfourseasons.com/fall_session

Again, if you're sold on the need then get to work on the supply. Start your school.

[Anonymous]

Just start another Spanish immersion Charter already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are multiple problems with Japanese - I say this as someone who studied it in high school, lived in Japan, studied it in college - the main one being that the Japanese economy has stagnated for 20-odd years.

If Japanese growth and entwinement with the American economy was happening at the rate it was in the 1980s, Japanese would be very, very worthwhile. But the country is simply not the growing source of economic opportunity it once was.

Another issue is how xenophobic and closed-off Japanese society is, i.e., even if you studied Japanese ages 4-22 and speak it fluently, you're still a foreigner doomed to live on the margins of society as either exotic or undesirable. And let's be super honest, that goes double for African-Americans, unfortunately. There are exceptions, sure, but this is the unfortunate norm.

I'd take it over a number of other languages, but I can see why no one has jumped to make it happen.

All that you say is so so true PP. I know someone who is Caucasian, has studied Japanese and lived in Japan for decades and is completely fluent. There have been times that she spoke Japanese so well, older Japanese people were offended and said very mean things to her, basically that no one who isn't Japanese should speak Japanese that well (a compliment as well, obviously her language skills are exceptional, but it happens a lot that people get upset and that of course upsets her). And the things she overhears people on trains and in restaurants say about white and black people nearby... assuming they don't speak Japanese... it sounds pretty ugly and I completely agree that without the economic reasons to think there will be a market for black, brown and white people speaking Japanese, it's really not anywhere near the priority or beneficial language that Mandarin, Arabic and Farsi are.

Not to say there aren't racist and/or xenophobic people in all countries (including the US). They are everywhere. But I don't think the US ever owed Japan as many billions (trillions?) of dollars as we currently owe China. The US will inextricably be linked financially to China for the forseeable future because of that. Not to mention there are millions and millions more people who speak Chinese than Japanese.

Parents committed to making a quality charter school in DC happen should pursue whatever language they are passionate about and care enough about that they will actually put the work in to open the school. But everyone should learn from Sela's example and be very realistic about demand, utility, and international presence of the language they choose. Not being realistic about it can mean a ton of work ends up in a closed, short-lived school. (Sela is not closed but many other charters are.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Japanese is the one of the least accessible languages in Washington DC. There are no language immersion programs east of the Anacostia River. I would love to see this happen.
Give me your opinions.

I thought the original posting was a joke, are people really serious about this? OP please respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My take on the language choice of Japanese is that there are no schools or classes, public or private, offered within DC's boundaries geared toward elementary school aged children. Japanese would be another language choice for DC parents. Also, there are kids classes, schools, and programs in DC for all the languages mentioned in this thread geared toward the non-native speaker. If a parent wanted their children to learn Arabic, Chinese, French, or Spanish in DC, there are options. I cannot speak about the number of available seats at the Hebrew school. Maybe there are other issues at play. I think Japanese and Korean are interesting language choices to introduce to DC parents. By the way, Japanese is identified as a Critical Needs language.

That's great that you feel that way, and if you're passionate about the idea you should go for it.

What most of us are saying though is that if you actually want the school to be full of students and to last longer than a year, you need to be crystal clear about what the demand for the language you're proposing looks like in DC and whether you have any evidence at all that a sizeable number of families would be interested in such a school.

If you replace the word "Japanese" with the word "Norwegian" everywhere in your post, everything you say about Norwegian is true too: are there elementary Norwegian resources in DC? No. Are there people who think Norwegian is an interesting language choice? I'm sure there are. But does that mean that if you opened a Norwegian bilingual school in DC enough parents would be interested year after year to get enough students in to keep it open? No, there is no evidence that a Norwegian school is sustainable. Same for Japanese, and you already have wise people who sound like if anyone would be interested they would, weighing in on this thread and saying no, they would not be.

Follow your dream, I mean that sincerely. Just be realistic about what to expect. Don't be surprised as the Sela founders seem to be that there is not enough demand to sustain the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Japanese is the one of the least accessible languages in Washington DC. There are no language immersion programs east of the Anacostia River. I would love to see this happen.
Give me your opinions.

I thought the original posting was a joke, are people really serious about this? OP please respond.

OP here....My original posting is not a joke. I do appreciate all of the constructive feedback. I am a life long resident (DC born and bred). Since I was a child, I always wanted to learn another language outside of the given choices of Spanish, French, Latin. I want the same thing for my kids. Since I became a parent, I always wanted to see DCPS expand its language choice to better reflect the fact that DC is a world capital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Japanese is the one of the least accessible languages in Washington DC. There are no language immersion programs east of the Anacostia River. I would love to see this happen.
Give me your opinions.

I thought the original posting was a joke, are people really serious about this? OP please respond.

OP here....My original posting is not a joke. I do appreciate all of the constructive feedback. I am a life long resident (DC born and bred). Since I was a child, I always wanted to learn another language outside of the given choices of Spanish, French, Latin. I want the same thing for my kids. Since I became a parent, I always wanted to see DCPS expand its language choice to better reflect the fact that DC is a world capital.

Thanks for weighing in again OP. Now that you've been clear and put out there your interest in such a school, the next obvious (and frankly most important) question is: are you willing to take steps to initiate actually forming this school? You've gotten feedback on the idea, and it sounds like you are still interested in your idea. But every single current successful charter started with one or a few parents such as yourself saying "This is needed" or "This is what *I* want/would want for my kids" and they got to discussing and planning. Are you willing to work to make a Japanese charter in DC happen?

[Anonymous]

OP here....Yes is my answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here....Yes is my answer.

Great! 2 suggestions: 1) Go to the offices of the Public Charter School Board and get info/resources on the charter process, and read through the proposals submitted (public info) from other would-be founders in the last 2 years, including schools that got funded and schools that didn't (to learn from each).

2) If there are any current charters whose models you like/respect/are really interested in, reach out to their leadership and find out who you can talk to about their founding process and get advice on first steps.

Good luck! I'm not interested in a Japanese charter at all, but I support all parents/folks with a vision for what they're interested in and the will to pursue it. Good luck, and please take the advice of other PPs and research the demand in DC. Unless you are outrageously wealthy and could afford to keep the school open and funded even if you only have 9 students per grade, it would be a horrible idea to go seriously forth without making sure there is a critical mass of parents in DC who see the value in a Japanese language charter and would be committed to one before you start one.

Good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

Same PP ^^ - one other suggestion: reach out to the DCI folks to find out who is in charge of hiring teachers for DCI. They are probably outrageously busy right now trying to open the school, but maybe once the school has been open for a couple of months, try to talk to someone working on hiring teachers and ask them what it's taken them to find teachers in each language for their school. I don't think you really understand how challenging that will be, so that's another piece you need to be seriously realistic about. It can be done, but are you sure you're willing and able to do it? You'll only start to know the answer when you find out from others who've been through it/are going through it now.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all this great feedback...

[Anonymous]

I just don't see the point or real interest. ONE country speaks japanese and given their demographic crisis, fewer and fewer of them in the future. Now for parents who are just desperate to get out of DCPS may opt in but not really be all that committed. You wont get hardly any high SES parents willing to make the commute to ward 7 for japanese. So the parents left would be low income and while committed unable to do any real fundraising for extras. No one is going to be able to afford a class trip to Japan.

[Anonymous]

Japan is actually 4th on the list of countries the US exports too - after Canada, China, and Mexico. While China appears to have better growth prospscts thatn Japan, one can never be sure of the future. And of course Japan has an important culture, and in the period that its economy has slowed down, it has developed a vibrant and influential popular culture.

I don't know that makes Japanese immersion viable in DC, but I do think its a viable and important language.

[Anonymous]

My niece who teaches in Japan will be ecstatic if this idea actually takes off.

It will bring her back to her hometown where her family misses her dearly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Another issue is how xenophobic and closed-off Japanese society is, i.e., even if you studied Japanese ages 4-22 and speak it fluently, you're still a foreigner doomed to live on the margins of society as either exotic or undesirable. And let's be super honest, that goes double for African-Americans, unfortunately. There are exceptions, sure, but this is the unfortunate norm.

Exact same thing can be said about the United States.

If Asians Said The Stuff White People Say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMJI1Dw83Hc