Diversity in DCPS - what does it really teach our children?

[Anonymous]

It is a well-known fact that in our "diverse" public schools here in DC the white kids are doing better than black/hispanic kids (on the average, of course).

So what lesson do all children learn after spending a few years in this kind of environment? That color and race are linked to academic ability. Now if they spent time in an environment where color and academic performance are not correlated, that would be ideal. But unfortunately, this is not the case here in DC. So basically they get a very biased perception.

I am starting to think that sometimes diversity - at least of the DC type - is not such a good thing. What do you think?

[Anonymous]

What is diversity actually like in DCPS? Except for out of boundary kids, I would suspect that the majority of elementary schools are not that socio economically diverse.

I expect that there is more diversity as children mature and a segment of families with children in high achieving public elementary schools lose confidence in the public system so either move to 'MD or VA or send their kids to private schools.

[Anonymous]

I went to a Historically Black College or University and have to agree that it was freeing to not have that racial reference point; no one made assumptions there about my abilities based on my skin color. I have never had that experience to a similar degree since graduating into the real world. Sometimes I miss it.

[Anonymous]

Yes there is an acheivement gap but in my experience in a DCPS elementary school, I don't believe this is something that kids are aware of on a day-to-day basis. Middle school is probably a different story, especially if kids are grouped according to ability. And I think this is a terrible message for all. But this is not just a DC thing. You can find these dynamics in public schools across the country. And if you read some of the older threads about race and private schools in the area, there are a whole host of other issues that come up.

To me the simple truth is we can't just look to our schools for lessons about diversity. If we really want our kids to get the message of respecting difference - we as parents need to model that ourselves and be direct in communicating that this is somethng we value.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I joke that if DC is taking away any stereotypes from private school it's that least able kids are generally the most affluent kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes there is an acheivement gap but in my experience in a DCPS elementary school, I don't believe this is something that kids are aware of on a day-to-day basis. Middle school is probably a different story, especially if kids are grouped according to ability. And I think this is a terrible message for all. But this is not just a DC thing. You can find these dynamics in public schools across the country. And if you read some of the older threads about race and private schools in the area, there are a whole host of other issues that come up.

To me the simple truth is we can't just look to our schools for lessons about diversity. If we really want our kids to get the message of respecting difference - we as parents need to model that ourselves and be direct in communicating that this is somethng we value.

From my experience, kids - even elementary school age - are very sharp at these things.
What kind of issues are there regarding race & private schools? Please give me a hint. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

One of the reasons that so many upper middle class black families abandon DCPS (we did) is because of the culture of low expectations to be found in public middle and high school. We didn't want our kids to be feel weird for getting good grades, and we wanted them to be in a environment where they would be expected to excel.

[Anonymous]

This is one reason I wanted my dd to attend Banneker, Walls, or Ellington for high school but not Wilson. Wilson's magnet programs within a regular school magnify racial divisions. I wanted my white kid going to a school where the Black kids are her peers, which is the case when the whole school is a magnet program.

[Anonymous]

Parents can do a great deal to help kinds understand what they see. It's not necessarily the case that a child will see the race/ethnicity gaps and solidify his or her impression that whites are one way, blacks another, and hispanic kids yet another way.

That being said, I think it's a good thing for schools to push as many kids as possible, "ready or not," into challenging classes. Even kids who float by with a C in a hard-driving class are better off in the end than a kid who rarely encounters a thought-provoking, critical-thinking kind of discussion. I think we should see children from a variety of backgrounds in honors and AP classes. If we don't, we might ask why the schools aren't doing more to push underrepresented groups into them? This is a question I have asked of my child's school, as he is not white, gets on average high Bs, but can do better when he (and his teacher and parents) put his mind to it. I want them to push him. And I will support them in doing so.

There are legitimate challenges to schools succeeding in perfectly integrating the classrooms, however: poverty, mobility, and so on take their toll, and these challenges are disproportionately shouldered by families of color. I saw this in my son's middle school. Seemed like every year a third of the kids were new.

One thing I wouldn't stand for, black, white, hispanic, or other, is sending my kid to a school that's out of control. Adults need to be in charge, and children must be respectful of them and each other. No discussion. If the school staff doesn't have a handle on the nonsense, my kid is o.u.t.o.f.t.h.e.r.e.

[Anonymous]

I see it less as the white kids doing better than the black/hispanic kids and more as the middle and upper-middle class kids doing better than the lower and lower-middle class kids. It comes out in terms of racial differences because DC just has the happenstance of having extremely few lower and lower-middle class white families (I'm talking in the city limits). This is exasperated by the fact that, as a pp mentioned, many black families with the means to do so abadon DCPS, so there is that population of high-achieving black students who are present in DCPS.

I'm one of those black middle class high achieving students, but my parents purposely kept me in DCPS to expose me to a broader range experiences. I went to Wilson, where for the most part (but not totally, at least when I was there 15 some years ago) the AP and WISP classes were white. I have no idea what those white kids thought about the black and hispanic kids that obviously were not performing on the same academic level. Maybe they did take away the negative impression that minorities cannot be their intellectual peers (my sister coming a few years behind me certainly felt this was the feeling of her white peers). On the other hand, I know from conversations with my white classmates that being in an environment where they were exposed to different races, and just as importantly, different economic classes, definitely had a broadening impact on their world view and that they largely saw it as a positive.

[Anonymous]

pp - thank you for your thoughtful post, i agree

[Anonymous]

Interesting thread. I attended elem/sec school in the Midwest. There were no AP classes, though there was a college track and math classes were divided by ability. While the majority of African-Americans were not in college track classes, my take-away was not "oh, well they're not bright," etc. And that may be because most of the white students were also not in college track classes. Most schools in small and medium-sized towns are inclusive by both race and class. Most of the students in the college tracks classes were from middle (public univ profs) and upper middle class (doctors and lawyers) families. I was one of the few white kids in the college track with a working class background. Nearly all of the middle class African-American students were in the college track and a handful of African-Americans from backgrounds similar to mine were also enrolled in the college track. Sometimes I would see bright white and AA kids thriving in elementary, then flounder later when we made the transition to MS. I think this mainly had to do with getting lost when they were no longer under the tutelage of one teacher, who tried to keep a close eye on the students with potential. Class and experience really matters when it comes to figuring out what classes you should pick, what is the significance of the P/SAT, etc. I was just tenacious and my parents were warily supportive; however, they had no clue about what to do and were really not able to provide guidance. But not all kids are fortunate to have that. You can't go and take the P/SAT on a Saturday morning if your mom works on Saturdays and you have to watch your siblings on the weekend.