Would you put your white kid in KIPP or Center City?
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Anonymous
| I went to a predominantly black school through eighth grade and I am white. I would do the same with my son though our neighborhood school is closer to 50/50. Certainly helps one not to have the kind of weird hang ups some white people have, like thinking being AA is a personality type or something. Did I sometimes feel weird and not part of the dominant culture? Sure but I don’t know that that was a bad thing to experience and navigate. |
Anonymous
| My kids was the only white kid in PK3 and pk4 at a different School. No issue at all. He got on well with all his classmates and teachers. |
Anonymous
I'm not naive. I'm reporting my actual experience with my child. You are arguing with no experience just stereotypes or a belief of what you think would happen. My child has friends and is very happy... far happier than her experience at a rich predominantly white private. But keep spreading the prejudice. |
Anonymous
The stereotype for KIPP is high discipline drill military style environment. That's not what most people middle class and above are looking for in a school environment |
Anonymous
thank u, next! |
Anonymous
that's the STEREOTYPE. You'd have to actually go see the school and talk to KIPP parents to find out if it's true or not. |
Anonymous
Look let's talk about stereotypes they only exist because they are true at least some and in many cases a great majority of the time |
Anonymous
Our kids are neither white nor black, and nope we'd never sent them there. We wouldn't try to outsource such a parenting decision to DCUM either. |
Anonymous
| Should not (never) be a question of race, but whether the school's educational/child development approach is one that is right for you and especially your child. KIPP is more structured and has amazing results sending scores of low-income kids to college. Capital City, which I know less about, has an expeditionary learning approach, which is guided by the students' interests and focuses on deep, rather than rote, learning. Personally, I think there is a place for both approaches and some kids do better with one or the other. I'm Asian, my kids are half-white, and go to a majority black and Hispanic schools because they are terrific schools, with terrific teachers and language immersion, which was something we were looking for. KIPP is a terrific school -- I have a friend who went to Yale who's a principal at one down south. The things her kids have accomplished would amaze most cynics. Go and check out the schools for yourself, and most importantly, speak with the teachers and observe! |
Anonymous
I'm the poster who said that if a white three year old experiences racial discrimination at school, it could be a learning experience. I was thinking of micro-aggressions, ignorant assumptions, maybe use of a racial epithet or an incident of exclusion; the kind of stuff I, as a white person, have once in a while actually experienced. Being subjected to that level of racist treatment I think can be a learning experience for white people, because it can remind us that racism exists, show us that hurts, that it's wrong, and we can learn something about race, privilege, and decent conduct as we navigate the best response. I was not thinking that it would be OK for a white child to be violently attacked because of their race or something like that -- that's just so out of the realm of what I perceive as realistic (and yes, it is a white privilege for it to be so unrealistic for my kids) that I didn't even think about it. As a PP said -- white parents who are so concerned about having the only white kid in the preschool class, what is the worst thing that could realistically happen? IMO, it would be a racist statement from a kid or teacher (i.e., "you can't do X because you are white.") If that happened to my kid, it would absolutely be a learning experience to unpack the comment and respond to it. Non-white kids get this message all the time. Parents need to recognize it (when it's sent to our kids or others) and be ready to help our kids respond appropriately. |
Anonymous
Most normal people don't want to live in a neighborhood, school, or heck work at a company where they are less than 10% of the population. It's human nature people |
Anonymous
| PP here, though I doubt I can add anything much to this giant thread. My kids look caucasian, or possibly Hispanic. The only thing I noticed when they were young and in these largely black and brown schools is that their preferences for dolls and princesses and beauty were skewed toward black and brown women and girls. They felt a little self conscious that their friends wanted to touch and play with their hair, and also that they didnt have beads or tiny braids. They got over that quickly and it never became a big issue, nor were they teased. The only thing I can think of was my first daughter was the only one of her girlfriends whose ears weren't pierced in the 6th grade. Due to my husband's family preference, we waited for her until 8, but in my culture, it is common for babies and toddlers to have ears pierced. Now she's in a high income, less minority school and she's the only one in her 4th grade class with pierced ears. So, these are minor, cosmetic differences. |
Anonymous
Well, I'm 11:39 so I do in fact have ACTUAL EXPERIENCE. As the student. Not just as some parent on the side lines. |
Anonymous
| *whose ears weren't pierced in kindergarten, is what I meant to say. Sorry. |
Anonymous
I have, as a consultant. Again, based on what I've experienced I'd not put my child in a KIPP, Appletree or Rocketship. I prefer that my child and her peers be spoken to and treated respectfully, not as if she were some future prisoner. To be fair, the schools that I've been in are the ones located in Wards 7 and 8. Not sure what the culture of these schools is like in the other wards. |