Hidden Gems

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, folks, look inward. The huge majority of posts on the DC public school pages talk incessantly of the (silly-named) JKLM schools and disparage anything else. And when a poster talks about, say, buying in Logan or Shaw you invariably hear "but where are your kids going to go to school?" "Good luck with that! (snark)"

This is an extraordinarily elitist forum of the worst kind, where NIMBYism really and truly rules the day. It's basically "sure, I'm a Democrat and I'm liberal, and the hell with Trump, but there's no way I'm going to experiment with education with MY kid!"

It's pathetic.

(BTW I am a white parent with kids in a "hidden gem" DC public school that I'm not going to mention here. I don't want any of you sending your kids there!)

Probably not as much of a hidden gem as you think.

Let the snarky comments begin. Like clockwork.

[Anonymous]

Bethune 16th St. Can’t speak to the Brookland campus, but we’ve been really happy at 16th St. Very small and individualized, strong Spanish immersion program, and lots of specials and outdoor space. Really like how it’s truly racially and justice centered school too (Google Mary McLeod Bethune). The teachers and programming give a much more balanced approach and I value my white child having that experience early and having leaders (teachers, administrators) who are diverse. The attrition gets really significant after kindergarten, but for ECE and early early elementary, it’s really a great school that has challenged my bilingual, early reader, etc. kid well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethune 16th St. Can’t speak to the Brookland campus, but we’ve been really happy at 16th St. Very small and individualized, strong Spanish immersion program, and lots of specials and outdoor space. Really like how it’s truly racially and justice centered school too (Google Mary McLeod Bethune). The teachers and programming give a much more balanced approach and I value my white child having that experience early and having leaders (teachers, administrators) who are diverse. The attrition gets really significant after kindergarten, but for ECE and early early elementary, it’s really a great school that has challenged my bilingual, early reader, etc. kid well.

I’m glad that’s your experience. My friends kids went there and didn’t have that experience. But they thought it would improve and glad to see it did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, folks, look inward. The huge majority of posts on the DC public school pages talk incessantly of the (silly-named) JKLM schools and disparage anything else. And when a poster talks about, say, buying in Logan or Shaw you invariably hear "but where are your kids going to go to school?" "Good luck with that! (snark)"

This is an extraordinarily elitist forum of the worst kind, where NIMBYism really and truly rules the day. It's basically "sure, I'm a Democrat and I'm liberal, and the hell with Trump, but there's no way I'm going to experiment with education with MY kid!"

It's pathetic.

(BTW I am a white parent with kids in a "hidden gem" DC public school that I'm not going to mention here. I don't want any of you sending your kids there!)

+1.

I wonder if we go to the same school.

Did we talk about this on Saturday in the park?

Ha ha, nope. Still good to new there are kindred spirits out there.

That is good to know. There are more of us out there than shown on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, folks, look inward. The huge majority of posts on the DC public school pages talk incessantly of the (silly-named) JKLM schools and disparage anything else. And when a poster talks about, say, buying in Logan or Shaw you invariably hear "but where are your kids going to go to school?" "Good luck with that! (snark)"

This is an extraordinarily elitist forum of the worst kind, where NIMBYism really and truly rules the day. It's basically "sure, I'm a Democrat and I'm liberal, and the hell with Trump, but there's no way I'm going to experiment with education with MY kid!"

It's pathetic.

(BTW I am a white parent with kids in a "hidden gem" DC public school that I'm not going to mention here. I don't want any of you sending your kids there!)

+1.

I wonder if we go to the same school.

Did we talk about this on Saturday in the park?

Ha ha, nope. Still good to new there are kindred spirits out there.

That is good to know. There are more of us out there than shown on DCUM.

But you *are* here.

Don’t worry. We won’t tell.

[Anonymous]

The term “hidden gem” is problematic. People are trying to share that with you all and help you understand why it is problematic. I myself used the term previously. I probably posted it on this site. But once I learned why it was problematic I made a concerted effort to eliminate from my vernacular.

AND The desire to fix some of the problems the study pointed out is good. And I really appreciate you and others attempting to find a way to do better. I am not sure what would actually help- but the biggest lesson I have learned over the years is to sit back, listen, be comfortable with being wrong/uncomfortable, etc.

What we don’t want to happen is pushing people in such a way that they stop trying to improve. The study wasn’t perfect, but it did point out some really big issues with the DC school system. And this was an attempt to do something different. Kudos for trying. But please listen to the critiques shared, don’t be so quick to shut down completely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term “hidden gem” is problematic. People are trying to share that with you all and help you understand why it is problematic. I myself used the term previously. I probably posted it on this site. But once I learned why it was problematic I made a concerted effort to eliminate from my vernacular.

AND The desire to fix some of the problems the study pointed out is good. And I really appreciate you and others attempting to find a way to do better. I am not sure what would actually help- but the biggest lesson I have learned over the years is to sit back, listen, be comfortable with being wrong/uncomfortable, etc.

What we don’t want to happen is pushing people in such a way that they stop trying to improve. The study wasn’t perfect, but it did point out some really big issues with the DC school system. And this was an attempt to do something different. Kudos for trying. But please listen to the critiques shared, don’t be so quick to shut down completely.

arbitrary attacks on peoples’ vocabulary choices is the definition of “pushing in such a way that they stop trying to improve.” it is just not the way to accomplish anything except demonstrating in-group superiority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:While I think the Brookings report that was based on DCUM posts is utter trash that was only saved from being used to line our cats' litter box by the fact that is it digital and not physical, several posters have asked me to reflect on what DCUM could do better. With the understanding that we all can always do better, I agree that DCUM could do more. I propose with this thread that posters nominate "hidden gem" schools. These should be schools that don't get much attention on DCUM, but are worth posters' attention. To keep the list to "hidden" schools, let's eliminate from nomination any of the schools mentioned in the Brookings report as "high-attention". On page 10 of the report:

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Discussions_DC_public_school_options_online_forum_Brookings-Report.pdf

There are clusters of schools categorized by the amount of attention they get on DCUM. Please do not nominate schools from the 145 Charter Cluster, the 145 Traditional Cluster, the High-Attention ES Cluster, the High-Attention MS/HS Cluster, or the Ward 6 Cluster. Any schools outside those lists are fair game.

Here is my nomination: McKinley Technology High School.

McKinley Technology High School has a Five Star rating, but only 3% of its students are white. Personally, I think the biggest challenge with the school is its location which might not work for everyone. While a STEM focus might not be for everyone, for those who are interested it seems like an excellent choice. I think McKinley is deserving of more attention on DCUM.

How much do you actually know about McKinley Tech? Are you just going on general impressions or do you know quite a bit about it? I looked into it in detail. My son actually tried it for 9th grade but it was mediocre. He transferred back to Wilson and the STEM offerings actually seemed stronger at Wilson. Disappointing but true for us. It is not really a magnet school in any sense.

+1 back when my kid and his friends wanted to go there, they were really excited about how it sounded, but then they talked to the rep who was sent to Deal, and first, she didn't believe them when they said they were in Algebra II, and then told them there was no math option for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, folks, look inward. The huge majority of posts on the DC public school pages talk incessantly of the (silly-named) JKLM schools and disparage anything else. And when a poster talks about, say, buying in Logan or Shaw you invariably hear "but where are your kids going to go to school?" "Good luck with that! (snark)"

This is an extraordinarily elitist forum of the worst kind, where NIMBYism really and truly rules the day. It's basically "sure, I'm a Democrat and I'm liberal, and the hell with Trump, but there's no way I'm going to experiment with education with MY kid!"

It's pathetic.

(BTW I am a white parent with kids in a "hidden gem" DC public school that I'm not going to mention here. I don't want any of you sending your kids there!)

Half or more of the JKLM posts are disparaging those schools and their parents.

[Anonymous]

A friend of a friend worked at McKinley Tech about 3 years ago. Kids do not hold/keep the required GPA to stay enrolled. It’s not what it’s cracked up to be.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, the concept of "hidden gems" is the topic of an entire episode of the Integrated Schools podcast. I commend it to you (and others here):

https://integratedschools.org/podcast/ep-6-the-hidden-gem/

Here is a summary of the episode:

There are lots of great schools without many white kids, however, when white parents start to integrate a global majority school because they think they’ve found a hidden gem, it can lead in some troubling directions. Anna from LA (you may remember her from Ep 1) joins us to discuss the problems that arise when we come to integration just looking for a hidden gem. We touch on the narrative around what makes a “good” school, and we discuss how the Hidden Gem story encourages resource hoarding and can pave the way for colonizing.

I thought the earlier poster was exaggerating, but I guess not. So, I'm out. Clearly nothing I do will ever be right.

We picked our kids ES as a "hidden gem" and bragged about it that way to others, I'm sure many times.

The points brought up about the pitfalls of that mentality are not wrong. At least in our case I learned something from the discussion.

There are many things we've grown up learning as "good liberals" (yeah, I'm making assumptions here) that are actually pretty rotten. I don't mind critique along those lines. In fact, I welcome it so I can learn from it.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, the concept of "hidden gems" is the topic of an entire episode of the Integrated Schools podcast. I commend it to you (and others here):

https://integratedschools.org/podcast/ep-6-the-hidden-gem/

Here is a summary of the episode:

There are lots of great schools without many white kids, however, when white parents start to integrate a global majority school because they think they’ve found a hidden gem, it can lead in some troubling directions. Anna from LA (you may remember her from Ep 1) joins us to discuss the problems that arise when we come to integration just looking for a hidden gem. We touch on the narrative around what makes a “good” school, and we discuss how the Hidden Gem story encourages resource hoarding and can pave the way for colonizing.

I thought the earlier poster was exaggerating, but I guess not. So, I'm out. Clearly nothing I do will ever be right.

No idea how old he is but Jeff is sounding like a particularly unenlightened boomer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, the concept of "hidden gems" is the topic of an entire episode of the Integrated Schools podcast. I commend it to you (and others here):

https://integratedschools.org/podcast/ep-6-the-hidden-gem/

Here is a summary of the episode:

There are lots of great schools without many white kids, however, when white parents start to integrate a global majority school because they think they’ve found a hidden gem, it can lead in some troubling directions. Anna from LA (you may remember her from Ep 1) joins us to discuss the problems that arise when we come to integration just looking for a hidden gem. We touch on the narrative around what makes a “good” school, and we discuss how the Hidden Gem story encourages resource hoarding and can pave the way for colonizing.

I thought the earlier poster was exaggerating, but I guess not. So, I'm out. Clearly nothing I do will ever be right.

No idea how old he is but Jeff is sounding like a particularly unenlightened boomer.

It doesn't make you enlightened to be mean. Were you always super knowledgeable? Ever need to learn something? Ever on the wrong side of an issue?

Try to be a little more understanding. We're all learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, the concept of "hidden gems" is the topic of an entire episode of the Integrated Schools podcast. I commend it to you (and others here):

https://integratedschools.org/podcast/ep-6-the-hidden-gem/

Here is a summary of the episode:

There are lots of great schools without many white kids, however, when white parents start to integrate a global majority school because they think they’ve found a hidden gem, it can lead in some troubling directions. Anna from LA (you may remember her from Ep 1) joins us to discuss the problems that arise when we come to integration just looking for a hidden gem. We touch on the narrative around what makes a “good” school, and we discuss how the Hidden Gem story encourages resource hoarding and can pave the way for colonizing.

I thought the earlier poster was exaggerating, but I guess not. So, I'm out. Clearly nothing I do will ever be right.

No idea how old he is but Jeff is sounding like a particularly unenlightened boomer.

It doesn't make you enlightened to be mean. Were you always super knowledgeable? Ever need to learn something? Ever on the wrong side of an issue?

Try to be a little more understanding. We're all learning.

We are all learning. I have a lot easier time being understanding with someone who admits that than with someone insisting they already know everything they need to know, and that different information is immediately wrong/insulting/laughable just by virtue of its unfamiliarity.

“Nothing I do will ever be right” is something I have previously heard only from Livia Soprano.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, the concept of "hidden gems" is the topic of an entire episode of the Integrated Schools podcast. I commend it to you (and others here):

https://integratedschools.org/podcast/ep-6-the-hidden-gem/

Here is a summary of the episode:

There are lots of great schools without many white kids, however, when white parents start to integrate a global majority school because they think they’ve found a hidden gem, it can lead in some troubling directions. Anna from LA (you may remember her from Ep 1) joins us to discuss the problems that arise when we come to integration just looking for a hidden gem. We touch on the narrative around what makes a “good” school, and we discuss how the Hidden Gem story encourages resource hoarding and can pave the way for colonizing.

I thought the earlier poster was exaggerating, but I guess not. So, I'm out. Clearly nothing I do will ever be right.

No idea how old he is but Jeff is sounding like a particularly unenlightened boomer.

It doesn't make you enlightened to be mean. Were you always super knowledgeable? Ever need to learn something? Ever on the wrong side of an issue?

Try to be a little more understanding. We're all learning.

We are all learning. I have a lot easier time being understanding with someone who admits that than with someone insisting they already know everything they need to know, and that different information is immediately wrong/insulting/laughable just by virtue of its unfamiliarity.

“Nothing I do will ever be right” is something I have previously heard only from Livia Soprano.

I'm not saying that being defensive is the right thing to do. The guy just got his baby (this website) publicly trashed all over the place, took a shot at trying to do better, and, not surprisingly, still has issues. Piling on probably feels pretty satisfying to you, but isn't actually helpful.

I don't believe that Jeff has bad intentions. While intentions are not enough, it's at least a starting point where he can build from if he can get past the hurt feelings from this.