This American Life about desegregation in schools
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Anonymous
| It made me sad. Reminded me of dynamics of schools in DC. Charters (magnets), valuing and marketing to white parents/ children, black children having more limited options, and white families "experimenting" with integration but having other options if it doesn't work out, etc. |
Anonymous
| that's funny. It made me feel exactly the opposite. As I was thinking of our charter school and how diverse the kids are I thought we had possibly transcended all of that which I heard in the story that did make me sad.I listened to last weeks which was part one of the series but not part 2 which I assume was today....well done piece. |
Anonymous
| I didn't find it as compelling as I thought I would. |
Anonymous
| Where can this doc be found? Netflix? |
Anonymous
| This American Life is an NPR show. Go online or download the app. |
Anonymous
| It's on podcast. Just download it...it made me really sad. I am AA and grew up privileged in DC. It makes me want to do everything I can to push for change in our city. We have to do something about poverty...not just push it away out of sight. |
Anonymous
| It's on podcast. Just download it...it made me really sad. I am AA and grew up privileged in DC. It makes me want to do everything I can to push for change in our city. We have to do something about poverty...not just push it away out of sight. |
Anonymous
... to PG county. This process is clearly underway, don't you think? I share your sadness. I do wonder though if Maryland, with is much much much greater tax base and resources, might not be a better entity to tackle and break up the systemic and multi-generational problem. |
Anonymous
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DC is heavily segregated and seems to be following the national model in terms of dismantling most steps that lead to integration.
What the TAL program showed is that if you don't mandate it and enforce it by law, white people prefer segregation...and the only thing that improves the outcomes for black students is integration. In the scheme of things DC charters are not even a drop in the bucket...and very few of them--aside from HRCS--are diverse. |
Anonymous
| I totally agree...I think that's why keeping OOB kids from attending the better schools is a bad idea. I know overcrowding is a major issue, but we have to do something to ensure that the schools remain integrated. Some Ward 3 families are hell-bent on pushing Shepherd and Bancroft out of Deal and Wilson, but that would be a major mistake. |
Anonymous
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Srongly disagree. Letting galloping crowding go unchecked at Deal and Wilson will be an even bigger mistake. The city needs school-within-a-school DCPS test-in middle school programs in a big way, and not just in Ward 7. Create such programs and all boats will rise with the tide.
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Anonymous
| I heard it in the car and cried several times. |
Anonymous
If the correspondent is to be believed, the ONLY way to close the achievement gap is integration. If DCPS believes this (and why shouldn't they?) then there is no way they'll further reduce the Wilson feeder. My take on her hypothesis is that school with at least some white students are better schools because of systemic racism (privilege) and no amount of money is going to bring better teachers, climate, and governmental goodwill to schools that lack diversity (i.e., are 100% minority). |
Anonymous
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So, I listened, and what struck me was that I think the correspondent didn't necessarily have it wrong, she had a chicken/egg problem and her science was off. The issue is that the integrated AA kids always seem, as in the DC charter school environment, to be the ones that have more motivated parents. And thus, a lot less to overcome than the non-integrated kids.
In the story, the people that were flipping out about the black kids coming into their district really had nothing to fear, because they were getting the best of the school district that had lost accreditation. I'm not sure what actually tilts the positive results is the mix of racial/SES issues only, but a strong element of self-selection comes into play when you look at the data. I thought it was shoddy journalism to not even point that out. It was a heartbreaking story on many levels but I'm not sure it's a solvable problem unless we all decide to make private schools illegal and public schools 100% lottery or at the very least 50% set aside for OOB kids, you'll always have segregation. My takeaway was "well this sucks" well, What do you propose we do about it?! |
Anonymous
Most things are taken more seriously when it affects white people because white people make others take it seriously. They do that with a combination of generational wealth, political influence and advocacy. If the solution to others empowerment is having white people break up the revolving door of their own privilege than minorities might as well keep making babies until we have enough numbers to force change because it isn't going to be given to us. |