This American Life tackles Desegregation

[Anonymous]

Yesterday the This American Life podcast put out an episode tackling the subject of desgrigation. I think it gives some interesting food for thought and is worth a listen: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with - This is definitely a general education subject but I posted it here in DCPS because 1) I am a DCPS parent and teacher and 2) It made me think about the OOB set aside. Listen if you have a chance!

[Anonymous]

This podcast is over a year old, but still fantastic. You can find both episodes (it was a two-parter) on npr.org. Absolutely one of the best - if not the best - stories they've ever done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This podcast is over a year old, but still fantastic. You can find both episodes (it was a two-parter) on npr.org. Absolutely one of the best - if not the best - stories they've ever done.

Oh sorry - I'm newly interested in podcasts and this is the one they (re) released on Sunday. I thought it was great and something that people on this forum could benefit from.

[Anonymous]

Definitely worth discussing again, OP. I read all the commentary around it the first time but never listened to the story itself. I can't get over how ANGRY those white parents are, and how willing they are to lie about why the other district lost its certification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This podcast is over a year old, but still fantastic. You can find both episodes (it was a two-parter) on npr.org. Absolutely one of the best - if not the best - stories they've ever done.

Oh sorry - I'm newly interested in podcasts and this is the one they (re) released on Sunday. I thought it was great and something that people on this forum could benefit from.

This American Life has its own app where you can listen to all of their episodes. It can be a little glitchy sometimes, but it's great when you need something to listen to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This podcast is over a year old, but still fantastic. You can find both episodes (it was a two-parter) on npr.org. Absolutely one of the best - if not the best - stories they've ever done.

Oh sorry - I'm newly interested in podcasts and this is the one they (re) released on Sunday. I thought it was great and something that people on this forum could benefit from.

PP here and no worries! It was the 2015 first air date that hooked me on this podcast - now I have it on auto download. Yeah, this episode was huge and still so relevant. I'm a public high school teacher, and parts of this were downright sad and discouraging (like all the parents at the town hall meeting - shame on them).

[Anonymous]

The town hall meeting was ugly. But predjudices aside, can you imagine thst situation? What if your kid's school was going to have a couple hindred new kids next term? That aspect alone would be jarring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This podcast is over a year old, but still fantastic. You can find both episodes (it was a two-parter) on npr.org. Absolutely one of the best - if not the best - stories they've ever done.

Oh sorry - I'm newly interested in podcasts and this is the one they (re) released on Sunday. I thought it was great and something that people on this forum could benefit from.

This American Life has its own app where you can listen to all of their episodes. It can be a little glitchy sometimes, but it's great when you need something to listen to.

+1 I love this American life and it's a treat every time. The app lets you DL 5 episodes to play off line (for those who may be unfamiliar) it's well organized and easy to use, if glitchy. Highly recommend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The town hall meeting was ugly. But predjudices aside, can you imagine thst situation? What if your kid's school was going to have a couple hindred new kids next term? That aspect alone would be jarring.

But can you imagine being the 12 year old African American girl who attended to town hall in preparation for coming to that school and listening to the awful shit those people were saying? Things like I want to know where the metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs will be. Things like the school was shut down because of fights/violence (obviously not true). Even still, can you imagine being that child's parent? I agree that overcrowding can be problematic, but those people were downright racist and heartless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town hall meeting was ugly. But predjudices aside, can you imagine thst situation? What if your kid's school was going to have a couple hindred new kids next term? That aspect alone would be jarring.

But can you imagine being the 12 year old African American girl who attended to town hall in preparation for coming to that school and listening to the awful shit those people were saying? Things like I want to know where the metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs will be. Things like the school was shut down because of fights/violence (obviously not true). Even still, can you imagine being that child's parent? I agree that overcrowding can be problematic, but those people were downright racist and heartless.

Completely agree! My heart went out to poor Maria. I'm just saying it was a wild situation for everyone involved -- the students needing a competent school to attend, the whacked patents in the white district, and even the reasonable parents in the white district.

[Anonymous]

I thought this report was striking but super short on any practical solutions to a problem that has vexed our public school system for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this report was striking but super short on any practical solutions to a problem that has vexed our public school system for decades.

I thought the report was pretty clear that integration was a practical solution to the problem. That is, in fact, the entire point of the podcast. Someplace like DC, which is hyper-segregated but geographically compact, would be a perfect opportunity for reintegration of public schools.

[Anonymous]

PP, just because things are geographically close means little given the time it takes to traverse that relatively small distance - especially at rush hour. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

+1.

[Anonymous]

The problem in DC is that successful integration will require a lot of time. Right now, the need for a better school placement dwarfs the capacity of the quality schools. The number of good schools is slowly spreading, with charters being a part of that, so DC is on the right track.

The 10% OOB set-aside should prove to be effective policy for the kids who get to take advantage of it. But at that rate, it will still be years and years before most students in lame schools get to escape for a good one. (It doesn't help that most of the high-quality schools where the benefit would be large are already way overcrowded.)

We've already seen what happens if you force rapid integration by quickly bringing in large numbers of new students into the more successful schools: the disruption is high and many of the preexisting families just leave. The high disruption can turn a successful school into an unsuccessful one.