Why do Parents Believe in DCI?

[Anonymous]

DCI is not immersion - doesn't purport to be. The kids do continue in the target language of their feeder school for 2 of their 6 (7?) classes in middle school.

At the open houses I went to, the assumption was the IB testing during later high school years would be mostly English - but kids will have some flexibility and choice. This may change as school matures. Keep in mind the oldest children in the school are just now finishing 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

This is reassuring. Great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are behind in DCI, they were behind at their HRCS. The continuation of the target language is the draw. [/b]Why waste six years of language instruction, especially in Mandarin which is a hard language.

[

Every parent I know who has decided to send their child to a different middle school, past and currently, has continued or will continue with Mandarin education for their children. What makes you think we would not for our children? Before DCI, which is only in its first year of operation, we had continuation plans beyond Yu Ying.

Not everyone is as well-resourced (i.e. wealthy) as you. Many whose kids currently attend Yu Ying would have ZERO options for continuing Mandarin for free, at that level, if our kids didn't go to DCI. So bravo for you that you have that option, but perhaps if you broke out of your apparently selective group a little, you'd meet plenty of parents who would not have that option. The PP you're responding to apparently knows a wider range of parents than you and your friends.

Not buying this. Hope Chinese School is cheaper than a pair of Lebrons. Parents don't have a problem affording those.

[Anonymous]

We believe in the founders, the principal and staff, and the cohort of feeder families. We believe in the rigor of the IB programme. And we believe that DCI will be something special and unique for DC children.

[Anonymous]

It's still not free and you have to have a car and time to get out to the suburbs each week. It's a major commitment of time, and some money.

DCI is in DC, it's free, has IB diploma, former AP from Deal, and founder of YY at the helm. That's not to say I "believe in" in DCI, whatever they means, but I certainly am hopeful about it. Because if it doesn't work out, I'll be stuck playing the lottery or moving to the burbs. So, fingers crossed!

[Anonymous]

Np. I have always wondered how DCI will staff its upper school. Getting teachers qualified to teach the Higher Level courses is very challenging. There are at least 4 IB programs in Montgomery County, which pays better than DCPS. DCPS has two IB programs, Banneker and Eastern, and DCPS generally pays better than charter schools. Add to that the requirement that some of the language/social science classes must be taught in a target language, and it seems like a real HR problem to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many upper grades Yu Ying parents must believe in DCI because they don't speak Chinese. I'm a native speaker who, I kid you not, can hardly understand most of the YY kids I speak Mandarin to in my neighborhood, including upper grades kids. They don't seem able to understand me either, unless I speak as though I'm talking to a baby or toddler. Their parents seem to think that the kids are close to fluent for their ages. Also, when I talk to the families, they don't seem to know much at all about Chinese culture - they've never been to a Chinese-speaking country (other than perhaps on the recent YY 5th grade trip), aren't going, and don't have Chinese immigrant or ABC friends. They don't seem to know that most Chinese immigrants speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, or what Cantonese is.

I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to fare on those International Baccalaureate exams in six, seven or eight years. Having earned the full IB Diploma abroad years ago, I'm not convinced that DCPC has really thought the DCI program through. Those exams are killers, a good deal harder than AP language exams (which I also took), at least at the Higher Level.

I don't go looking for reasons to criticize DC public schools, but from where I sit, DCI's Chinese track doesn't sound like a serious thing. What makes you think it is?

Interesting that that's your experience. That has not been mine (I'm not a parent of older YY kids). But I have been in several situations with older YY students and non-YY affiliated Chinese native speakers, and I hear over and over that the students' Mandarin overall is actually very good. I listen for those opinions because obviously I'm interested in knowing how the students' proficiency (or lack thereof) is playing to a non-YY Mandarin-speaking audience. The majority of feedback I've gotten is very very positive, and does give me hope. Just to be clear, they're not people who have no reason not to speak the truth, and a few times I've specifically asked people I know who are native speakers to listen in and tell me what they really think.

And I absolutely have NOT had the experience you describe where the students can't understand what's being said to them and native Mandarin speakers can't understand what the students are saying. Even with the "less than stellar" students, I was told their comprehension was excellent.

Since I don't know anyone in real life whose had your experience, I continue to be very optimistic about what older YY students' proficiency will be in later years. I have no reason yet not to be optimistic, the feedback so far has been very positive. At some point testing will come in and we'll have actual data about their proficiency. Looking forward to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are behind in DCI, they were behind at their HRCS. The continuation of the target language is the draw. [/b]Why waste six years of language instruction, especially in Mandarin which is a hard language.

[

Every parent I know who has decided to send their child to a different middle school, past and currently, has continued or will continue with Mandarin education for their children. What makes you think we would not for our children? Before DCI, which is only in its first year of operation, we had continuation plans beyond Yu Ying.

Not everyone is as well-resourced (i.e. wealthy) as you. Many whose kids currently attend Yu Ying would have ZERO options for continuing Mandarin for free, at that level, if our kids didn't go to DCI. So bravo for you that you have that option, but perhaps if you broke out of your apparently selective group a little, you'd meet plenty of parents who would not have that option. The PP you're responding to apparently knows a wider range of parents than you and your friends.

Not buying this. Hope Chinese School is cheaper than a pair of Lebrons. Parents don't have a problem affording those.

You're funny! "Parents" also don't have a problem affording Sidwell, it's fully enrolled every year. So you assume that because some parents afford a specific program, ALL parents can afford that? That is the most ridiculous assumption ever.

I also don't know what Lebrons are, but I do know many of our fellow families at YY. Which is the school we're talking about. So how about you stick to what you know about all the families that can afford Hope Chinese School and Lebrons, and I'll stick to the YY families I know that can't afford any Chinese enrichment outside of the school (because there are some that really would like to add to what their kids are getting), and know that they'd like something like Hope to further their students but can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's still not free and you have to have a car and time to get out to the suburbs each week. It's a major commitment of time, and some money.

DCI is in DC, it's free, has IB diploma, former AP from Deal, and founder of YY at the helm. That's not to say I "believe in" in DCI, whatever they means, but I certainly am hopeful about it. Because if it doesn't work out, I'll be stuck playing the lottery or moving to the burbs. So, fingers crossed!

And those are better odds than most DC charters started out with. We continue to be highly optimistic too.

[Anonymous]

I earned the IB Diploma at an intl school in Europe in the 90s. I took French at the hl (higher level) and Spanish at the sl (standard level).

Banneker's IB Diploma pass rate is not more than one quarter, although candidates only need to wrack up 24 IB points (of a possible 45) to earn the Diploma. Eastern is graduating its first Diploma class this year, of 4 or 5 students with the IB exams coming up later this month (and scores out in Aug). Meanwhile, at Richard Montgomery in Bethesda, the pass rate is above 90%. In MoCo, elemntary immersion programs lead to 40-50% immersion ms programs, e.g. at Robert Frost in Rockville.

If DCI's IB Diploma pass rate is above 50% in 7 or 8 years, I'll be surprised. The DC charter immersion programs don't look robust enough to for kids to get on track to pass (with a score of 4 on a scale of 1-7), esp at the hl. They don't come along with public summer camp, or options for native speakers to test into the higher grades, like they do in the metro area burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many upper grades Yu Ying parents must believe in DCI because they don't speak Chinese. I'm a native speaker who, I kid you not, can hardly understand most of the YY kids I speak Mandarin to in my neighborhood, including upper grades kids. They don't seem able to understand me either, unless I speak as though I'm talking to a baby or toddler. Their parents seem to think that the kids are close to fluent for their ages. Also, when I talk to the families, they don't seem to know much at all about Chinese culture - they've never been to a Chinese-speaking country (other than perhaps on the recent YY 5th grade trip), aren't going, and don't have Chinese immigrant or ABC friends. They don't seem to know that most Chinese immigrants speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, or what Cantonese is.

I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to fare on those International Baccalaureate exams in six, seven or eight years. Having earned the full IB Diploma abroad years ago, I'm not convinced that DCPC has really thought the DCI program through. Those exams are killers, a good deal harder than AP language exams (which I also took), at least at the Higher Level.

I don't go looking for reasons to criticize DC public schools, but from where I sit, DCI's Chinese track doesn't sound like a serious thing. What makes you think it is?

Interesting that that's your experience. That has not been mine (I'm not a parent of older YY kids). But I have been in several situations with older YY students and non-YY affiliated Chinese native speakers, and I hear over and over that the students' Mandarin overall is actually very good. I listen for those opinions because obviously I'm interested in knowing how the students' proficiency (or lack thereof) is playing to a non-YY Mandarin-speaking audience. The majority of feedback I've gotten is very very positive, and does give me hope. Just to be clear, they're not people who have no reason not to speak the truth, and a few times I've specifically asked people I know who are native speakers to listen in and tell me what they really think.

And I absolutely have NOT had the experience you describe where the students can't understand what's being said to them and native Mandarin speakers can't understand what the students are saying. Even with the "less than stellar" students, I was told their comprehension was excellent.

Since I don't know anyone in real life whose had your experience, I continue to be very optimistic about what older YY students' proficiency will be in later years. I have no reason yet not to be optimistic, the feedback so far has been very positive. At some point testing will come in and we'll have actual data about their proficiency. Looking forward to that.

Taiwanese dad here again. Perhaps, but I'll say this, Chinese raise their kids to be polite, really polite. When YY families ask how their kids sound to me, I often find myself saying that a kid's comprehension seems good or excellent when it strikes me as mediocre or poor. We're non-confrontational as a group and insular; bilingual immigrant families aren't going to tangle with YY families. No point. We're already looking ahead to the testing, schlepping our kids to Rockville on weekends without complaint. We know that our children will need much higher standardized test scores than other groups to crack the same colleges. This helps explain why a coalition of 60 Asian-American groups recently filed suit against Harvard for discrimination in admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many upper grades Yu Ying parents must believe in DCI because they don't speak Chinese. I'm a native speaker who, I kid you not, can hardly understand most of the YY kids I speak Mandarin to in my neighborhood, including upper grades kids. They don't seem able to understand me either, unless I speak as though I'm talking to a baby or toddler. Their parents seem to think that the kids are close to fluent for their ages. Also, when I talk to the families, they don't seem to know much at all about Chinese culture - they've never been to a Chinese-speaking country (other than perhaps on the recent YY 5th grade trip), aren't going, and don't have Chinese immigrant or ABC friends. They don't seem to know that most Chinese immigrants speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, or what Cantonese is.

I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to fare on those International Baccalaureate exams in six, seven or eight years. Having earned the full IB Diploma abroad years ago, I'm not convinced that DCPC has really thought the DCI program through. Those exams are killers, a good deal harder than AP language exams (which I also took), at least at the Higher Level.

I don't go looking for reasons to criticize DC public schools, but from where I sit, DCI's Chinese track doesn't sound like a serious thing. What makes you think it is?

Interesting that that's your experience. That has not been mine (I'm not a parent of older YY kids). But I have been in several situations with older YY students and non-YY affiliated Chinese native speakers, and I hear over and over that the students' Mandarin overall is actually very good. I listen for those opinions because obviously I'm interested in knowing how the students' proficiency (or lack thereof) is playing to a non-YY Mandarin-speaking audience. The majority of feedback I've gotten is very very positive, and does give me hope. Just to be clear, they're not people who have no reason not to speak the truth, and a few times I've specifically asked people I know who are native speakers to listen in and tell me what they really think.

And I absolutely have NOT had the experience you describe where the students can't understand what's being said to them and native Mandarin speakers can't understand what the students are saying. Even with the "less than stellar" students, I was told their comprehension was excellent.

Since I don't know anyone in real life whose had your experience, I continue to be very optimistic about what older YY students' proficiency will be in later years. I have no reason yet not to be optimistic, the feedback so far has been very positive. At some point testing will come in and we'll have actual data about their proficiency. Looking forward to that.

Taiwanese dad here again. Perhaps, but I'll say this, Chinese raise their kids to be polite, really polite. When YY families ask how their kids sound to me, I often find myself saying that a kid's comprehension seems good or excellent when it strikes me as mediocre or poor. We're non-confrontational as a group and insular; bilingual immigrant families aren't going to tangle with YY families. No point. We're already looking ahead to the testing, schlepping our kids to Rockville on weekends without complaint. We know that our children will need much higher standardized test scores than other groups to crack the same colleges. This helps explain why a coalition of 60 Asian-American groups recently filed suit against Harvard for discrimination in admissions.

I'm not the poster you are responding to, but I appreciate your feedback. We are all interested in how DCI will meet the challenges that all DC middle and high schools wrestle with - how to push the brightest students as far as they can go while still providing an excellent education for the rest of the students. I know that Chinese native speakers are not interested in YY and DCI for a number of reasons that make perfect sense for them.

I do find it a bit odd that you admit you are insular and reserved but still feel free to make sweeping judgments about YY families (none of them know any Chinese people, their kids mumble and do not understand anything other than Chinese baby talk, they don't travel to China except perhaps for the YY trip, they don't have any cultural connection or awareness, and--my favorite--they don't even know the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin). While that may very well be true of the YY families you know from your neighborhood, it is absolutely not representative of all or even most families.

[Anonymous]

I do find it a bit odd that you admit you are insular and reserved but still feel free to make sweeping judgments about YY families (none of them know any Chinese people, their kids mumble and do not understand anything other than Chinese baby talk, they don't travel to China except perhaps for the YY trip, they don't have any cultural connection or awareness, and--my favorite--they don't even know the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin). While that may very well be true of the YY families you know from your neighborhood, it is absolutely not representative of all or even most families.

NP, Christ, everybody knows that boatloads of parents without "cultural connections" or "awareness" throw their names in every language immersion charter school hat every winter. What else are they supposed to do, enroll their children in in-boundary schools with dismal proficiency pass rates or move to McClean?

Sweeping judgments, ha ha. Try reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do find it a bit odd that you admit you are insular and reserved but still feel free to make sweeping judgments about YY families (none of them know any Chinese people, their kids mumble and do not understand anything other than Chinese baby talk, they don't travel to China except perhaps for the YY trip, they don't have any cultural connection or awareness, and--my favorite--they don't even know the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin). While that may very well be true of the YY families you know from your neighborhood, it is absolutely not representative of all or even most families.

NP, Christ, everybody knows that boatloads of parents without "cultural connections" or "awareness" throw their names in every language immersion charter school hat every winter. What else are they supposed to do, enroll their children in in-boundary schools with dismal proficiency pass rates or move to McClean?

Sweeping judgments, ha ha. Try reality.

PP said he didn't know *any* YY parents who even had a Chinese friend, FFS. That is a stupid, sweeping judgement.

[Anonymous]

How many DCI parents, future parents, educators and admins have first-hand knowledge of the IB Diploma curriculum and tests? How many parents speak, understand, read and write the languages of immersion well - maybe 10% overall? It's amateur hour at DCI.