Study: "Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum" (yes, this one)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The main thing this thread has proved is that young, liberal women with no kids never ever *ever* get tired of accusing other white people of being racist.

42 pages and counting.

And you know PPs’ ages, races, political persuasions and whether they have children how?

People with kids generally aren't this mean to other parents. Parenting is hard, and it teaches you to have empathy for people going through the same thing. Also, people who don't have kids are just really kind of clueless about what it's like. They're like virgins lecturing porn stars on sex.

This seems in keeping with the authoritativeness of the study, given the amount of criticism the methodology has received.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

i do agree with the poster who said "don't be selfish." meaning in a lot of situations, should we be thinking "what choice creates the most good for the most people?" If more and more people do that, maybe we will have naturally diverse schools. Maybe people won't retreat to white enclaves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

That’s another great way to get MC and UMC families in Wards 3, 4, and 5 to move across the line into the burbs. Just what DCPS needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

Ha. This has literally nothing to do with single-family housing, but thank you for your input (also, DC is already one of the most densely populated and most diverse cities in America). The issue here is that most schools in DC are heaping piles of garbage and most people don't want to send their kids to schools that are so bad they should probably just be shut down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The main thing this thread has proved is that young, liberal women with no kids never ever *ever* get tired of accusing other white people of being racist.

42 pages and counting.

44 pages!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

i do agree with the poster who said "don't be selfish." meaning in a lot of situations, should we be thinking "what choice creates the most good for the most people?" If more and more people do that, maybe we will have naturally diverse schools. Maybe people won't retreat to white enclaves.

This is the error in your reasoning. My individual choice to send my kid to the IB HS does not a single thing to help the struggling kids there. Unless you believe white skin is magical?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that white parents should be seen and not heard. If you are WOTP, give up your IB preference and go EOTP to a DCPS. Don't join the PTA, but write large checks. Mouths shut, wallets open.

If you are EOTP, go to your IB. No charters. Mouths shut, wallets open.

Charters should for BIPOC children only.
Language immersion for BIPOC only.
TAG programming for BIPOC only.

Celebrate BIPOC excellence.
Acknowledge white mediocrity.
Coach your children to accept their own mediocrity and acknowledge BIPOC excellence.

If you play the lottery, you are a racist and segregationist.

If you go to school OOB to go to school WOTP, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you allow your child to go to an IB WOTP school, and your child is white, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go private, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you move to MoCo or NoVa, obvi racist and segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school. and advocate for TAG, immersion, special programming - you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school and do not adhere to "mouths shut, wallets open" you are a racist and segregationist.

If you encourage others to attend high-performing schools dominated by BIPOC children, you are resource hoarding, because you are racist.

If you use the phrase "hidden gems," you are racist and encourage resource hoarding.

If any of this seems unfair - your white fragility is a fatal condition.

Everything you do is racist.

I'm an AfAm mom of a Pre-K bi-racial kid and I'm not sending my DS to DCPS schools going forward.
What we got a taste of with virtual learning from our so-okay IB school turned me off. The more I learned and researched what DCPS has to offer middle class POC boys the more pissed off I got. The reading scores and the math scores for POC boys is horrifying. It doesn't matter if Nice White Parents (a podcast I've hate-listened to along with the Integrated Schools podcast) show up or don't show up to our IB the responsibility of the suckitude of the school falls on DCPS.

And "Resource Hoarding" is utter BS. Apparently failure to handicap your kids, like DCPS is handicapping Black boys, is resource hoarding.

Best summary of SJW white women I've ever seen in my life. Bookmarking.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

i do agree with the poster who said "don't be selfish." meaning in a lot of situations, should we be thinking "what choice creates the most good for the most people?" If more and more people do that, maybe we will have naturally diverse schools. Maybe people won't retreat to white enclaves.

This is the error in your reasoning. My individual choice to send my kid to the IB HS does not a single thing to help the struggling kids there. Unless you believe white skin is magical?

There are benefits of integrated schools:
https://tcf.org/content/facts/the-benefits-of-socioeconomically-and-racially-integrated-schools-and-classrooms/#:~:text=School%20integration%20promotes%20more%20equitable,succeed%20in%20a%20global%20economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

i do agree with the poster who said "don't be selfish." meaning in a lot of situations, should we be thinking "what choice creates the most good for the most people?" If more and more people do that, maybe we will have naturally diverse schools. Maybe people won't retreat to white enclaves.

This is the error in your reasoning. My individual choice to send my kid to the IB HS does not a single thing to help the struggling kids there. Unless you believe white skin is magical?

There are benefits of integrated schools:
https://tcf.org/content/facts/the-benefits-of-socioeconomically-and-racially-integrated-schools-and-classrooms/#:~:text=School%20integration%20promotes%20more%20equitable,succeed%20in%20a%20global%20economy.

Me sending my kid as the only white kid isn't actually integrated. Unless again, you believe his skin color is magical. I don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

Ha. This has literally nothing to do with single-family housing, but thank you for your input (also, DC is already one of the most densely populated and most diverse cities in America). The issue here is that most schools in DC are heaping piles of garbage and most people don't want to send their kids to schools that are so bad they should probably just be shut down.

It has everything to do with single-family housing.
DC needs another 100k housing units — this is why housing is SO EXPENSIVE in DC.
Effectively all the land is built on already. So the only way to add housing is to convert existing housing to more-dense housing.
We do that a little with adding big luxury apartment buildings, but these have apartments for young professionals, not for families.

If you want to stop gentrification you must support converting single-family housing to denser 4-6 unit buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

Ha. This has literally nothing to do with single-family housing, but thank you for your input (also, DC is already one of the most densely populated and most diverse cities in America). The issue here is that most schools in DC are heaping piles of garbage and most people don't want to send their kids to schools that are so bad they should probably just be shut down.

It has everything to do with single-family housing.
DC needs another 100k housing units — this is why housing is SO EXPENSIVE in DC.
Effectively all the land is built on already. So the only way to add housing is to convert existing housing to more-dense housing.
We do that a little with adding big luxury apartment buildings, but these have apartments for young professionals, not for families.

If you want to stop gentrification you must support converting single-family housing to denser 4-6 unit buildings.

Accept the losers in the density debate are overwhelming MC AA families who get pushed out of their SFH homes when developers start sniffing around to put up condos. If you care about curing the intergenerational wealth gap, you must support preserving SFH in wards 4 and 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School segregation is not good.

In an ideal world, our neighborhoods and schools would be naturally diverse, with a mix of housing types and a population with a mix of income levels. This is true in some parts of D.C. -- there are neighborhoods and schools with natural diversity. Maybe that's the one situation where you can find white people who don't feel guilty about their choices.

School segregation is inextricably tied up with housing segregation.

Housing segregation has long-standing racist roots (redling, racially restrictive covenants). The segregation continues bc
people see that the schools in some areas are "better" and then move there and the schools get even better and the problem compounds.

At the root, we need to eliminate single-family zoning. Then this whole conversation will feel less insane and unsolvable.

Ha. This has literally nothing to do with single-family housing, but thank you for your input (also, DC is already one of the most densely populated and most diverse cities in America). The issue here is that most schools in DC are heaping piles of garbage and most people don't want to send their kids to schools that are so bad they should probably just be shut down.

It has everything to do with single-family housing.
DC needs another 100k housing units — this is why housing is SO EXPENSIVE in DC.
Effectively all the land is built on already. So the only way to add housing is to convert existing housing to more-dense housing.
We do that a little with adding big luxury apartment buildings, but these have apartments for young professionals, not for families.

If you want to stop gentrification you must support converting single-family housing to denser 4-6 unit buildings.

This is all nonsensical.

1. Single family homes are rare in New York City, and these school issues are even worse there. Zoning has nothing to do with any of this.

2. Adding housing units drives prices up, not down because it creates economics of scale for businesses to move in. The more people live in an area, the more coffee shops and restaurants and boutiques want to be there. That attracts even more people to the area, which pushes housing prices up. See, for example, Navy Yard.

3. There's 700,000 people in DC. There's 5,000,000 people in the suburbs. Any new housing in DC will be instantly absorbed by people in the suburbs looking for shorter commutes.

4. Increasing density is just how the left/real estate developers have tried to rebrand gentrification. It's the same thing.

But, hey! Good job trying to shoehorn your unrelated issue into this thread. If only there were such easy answers to such complex problems we'd have this fixed right quick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that white parents should be seen and not heard. If you are WOTP, give up your IB preference and go EOTP to a DCPS. Don't join the PTA, but write large checks. Mouths shut, wallets open.

If you are EOTP, go to your IB. No charters. Mouths shut, wallets open.

Charters should for BIPOC children only.
Language immersion for BIPOC only.
TAG programming for BIPOC only.

Celebrate BIPOC excellence.
Acknowledge white mediocrity.
Coach your children to accept their own mediocrity and acknowledge BIPOC excellence.

If you play the lottery, you are a racist and segregationist.

If you go to school OOB to go to school WOTP, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you allow your child to go to an IB WOTP school, and your child is white, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go private, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you move to MoCo or NoVa, obvi racist and segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school. and advocate for TAG, immersion, special programming - you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school and do not adhere to "mouths shut, wallets open" you are a racist and segregationist.

If you encourage others to attend high-performing schools dominated by BIPOC children, you are resource hoarding, because you are racist.

If you use the phrase "hidden gems," you are racist and encourage resource hoarding.

If any of this seems unfair - your white fragility is a fatal condition.

Everything you do is racist.

I'm an AfAm mom of a Pre-K bi-racial kid and I'm not sending my DS to DCPS schools going forward.
What we got a taste of with virtual learning from our so-okay IB school turned me off. The more I learned and researched what DCPS has to offer middle class POC boys the more pissed off I got. The reading scores and the math scores for POC boys is horrifying. It doesn't matter if Nice White Parents (a podcast I've hate-listened to along with the Integrated Schools podcast) show up or don't show up to our IB the responsibility of the suckitude of the school falls on DCPS.

And "Resource Hoarding" is utter BS. Apparently failure to handicap your kids, like DCPS is handicapping Black boys, is resource hoarding.

A comment and a question (as always I’m assuming you’re a real parent and not one of the conservative trolls that come here to divide us.)

First, virtual PreK has been a total joke for everyone. Give in person K a shot before you throw DCPS out. That said I agree DCPS Central really does not do a good job.

Question: when you say “DCPS handicaps Black boys”, what do you mean? That they don’t care about creating and supporting top schools?

Yes, I have a real live brown boy whose hobby is finding mommy's buttons and her last nerve. I'm so thankful my DH has more patience for virtual learning, because I was already wistfully looking at AfAm mom homeschooling vlogs and websites. I'm done. We eventually found a daycare that did PreK and sent him there. We are more happier and sane.

I can't remember the exact quote but I saw a video of Malcolm X speaking and he said something along the lines that system turns Black people off from education, probably as a way to keep them ignorant. Now how DCPS plays a part is in the abysmal ELA PARCC scores of black boys (girls do better). When we were looking for schools for the lottery (our IB school was *shrug* okay but I wanted to see if we could do better) I took particular interest in 3rd grade scores for Black boys (even though he's bi-racial). The scores for the nearby schools or schools along our commutes were either unimpressive or klaxon blaring bad.

Why scores matter to me? They aren't the best metric, but they are an available metric. And I'm not going to do the 'if you just went and visited the school' gaslighting tour. And my DS is sensitive to peer pressure, positive and negative. If the other boys around him aren't excelling, he's gonna catch the stupid.

Lastly, on handicapping. My dad barely graduated high school is is barely literate. Thank God Almighty for the Army where he learned a skill and was able to take that skill and start a business. But I saw how having poor reading and math skills could keep you back, even when you are your own boss. Somehow I feel real Black Empowerment hasn't been tried yet (like socialism) because we Black people as a group have too many members can't read well or do complicated math and DCPS isn't treating the problem like it's a house on fire. The schools that have the worst scores, they just throw money at and it doesn't make things better. Several schools with lousy scores got expensive brand new buildings, but the scores still suck. DCPS doesn't care about real results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that white parents should be seen and not heard. If you are WOTP, give up your IB preference and go EOTP to a DCPS. Don't join the PTA, but write large checks. Mouths shut, wallets open.

If you are EOTP, go to your IB. No charters. Mouths shut, wallets open.

Charters should for BIPOC children only.
Language immersion for BIPOC only.
TAG programming for BIPOC only.

Celebrate BIPOC excellence.
Acknowledge white mediocrity.
Coach your children to accept their own mediocrity and acknowledge BIPOC excellence.

If you play the lottery, you are a racist and segregationist.

If you go to school OOB to go to school WOTP, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you allow your child to go to an IB WOTP school, and your child is white, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go private, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you move to MoCo or NoVa, obvi racist and segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school. and advocate for TAG, immersion, special programming - you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school and do not adhere to "mouths shut, wallets open" you are a racist and segregationist.

If you encourage others to attend high-performing schools dominated by BIPOC children, you are resource hoarding, because you are racist.

If you use the phrase "hidden gems," you are racist and encourage resource hoarding.

If any of this seems unfair - your white fragility is a fatal condition.

Everything you do is racist.

I'm an AfAm mom of a Pre-K bi-racial kid and I'm not sending my DS to DCPS schools going forward.
What we got a taste of with virtual learning from our so-okay IB school turned me off. The more I learned and researched what DCPS has to offer middle class POC boys the more pissed off I got. The reading scores and the math scores for POC boys is horrifying. It doesn't matter if Nice White Parents (a podcast I've hate-listened to along with the Integrated Schools podcast) show up or don't show up to our IB the responsibility of the suckitude of the school falls on DCPS.

And "Resource Hoarding" is utter BS. Apparently failure to handicap your kids, like DCPS is handicapping Black boys, is resource hoarding.

A comment and a question (as always I’m assuming you’re a real parent and not one of the conservative trolls that come here to divide us.)

First, virtual PreK has been a total joke for everyone. Give in person K a shot before you throw DCPS out. That said I agree DCPS Central really does not do a good job.

Question: when you say “DCPS handicaps Black boys”, what do you mean? That they don’t care about creating and supporting top schools?

Yes, I have a real live brown boy whose hobby is finding mommy's buttons and her last nerve. I'm so thankful my DH has more patience for virtual learning, because I was already wistfully looking at AfAm mom homeschooling vlogs and websites. I'm done. We eventually found a daycare that did PreK and sent him there. We are more happier and sane.

I can't remember the exact quote but I saw a video of Malcolm X speaking and he said something along the lines that system turns Black people off from education, probably as a way to keep them ignorant. Now how DCPS plays a part is in the abysmal ELA PARCC scores of black boys (girls do better). When we were looking for schools for the lottery (our IB school was *shrug* okay but I wanted to see if we could do better) I took particular interest in 3rd grade scores for Black boys (even though he's bi-racial). The scores for the nearby schools or schools along our commutes were either unimpressive or klaxon blaring bad.

Why scores matter to me? They aren't the best metric, but they are an available metric. And I'm not going to do the 'if you just went and visited the school' gaslighting tour. And my DS is sensitive to peer pressure, positive and negative. If the other boys around him aren't excelling, he's gonna catch the stupid.

Lastly, on handicapping. My dad barely graduated high school is is barely literate. Thank God Almighty for the Army where he learned a skill and was able to take that skill and start a business. But I saw how having poor reading and math skills could keep you back, even when you are your own boss. Somehow I feel real Black Empowerment hasn't been tried yet (like socialism) because we Black people as a group have too many members can't read well or do complicated math and DCPS isn't treating the problem like it's a house on fire. The schools that have the worst scores, they just throw money at and it doesn't make things better. Several schools with lousy scores got expensive brand new buildings, but the scores still suck. DCPS doesn't care about real results.

dp: I appreciate your perspective, PP, and love your spirit and writing style. “Suckitude” is a word that should be used more often when talking about DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that white parents should be seen and not heard. If you are WOTP, give up your IB preference and go EOTP to a DCPS. Don't join the PTA, but write large checks. Mouths shut, wallets open.

If you are EOTP, go to your IB. No charters. Mouths shut, wallets open.

Charters should for BIPOC children only.
Language immersion for BIPOC only.
TAG programming for BIPOC only.

Celebrate BIPOC excellence.
Acknowledge white mediocrity.
Coach your children to accept their own mediocrity and acknowledge BIPOC excellence.

If you play the lottery, you are a racist and segregationist.

If you go to school OOB to go to school WOTP, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you allow your child to go to an IB WOTP school, and your child is white, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go private, you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you move to MoCo or NoVa, obvi racist and segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school. and advocate for TAG, immersion, special programming - you are a racist and a segregationist.

If you go to a majority BIPOC school and do not adhere to "mouths shut, wallets open" you are a racist and segregationist.

If you encourage others to attend high-performing schools dominated by BIPOC children, you are resource hoarding, because you are racist.

If you use the phrase "hidden gems," you are racist and encourage resource hoarding.

If any of this seems unfair - your white fragility is a fatal condition.

Everything you do is racist.

I'm an AfAm mom of a Pre-K bi-racial kid and I'm not sending my DS to DCPS schools going forward.
What we got a taste of with virtual learning from our so-okay IB school turned me off. The more I learned and researched what DCPS has to offer middle class POC boys the more pissed off I got. The reading scores and the math scores for POC boys is horrifying. It doesn't matter if Nice White Parents (a podcast I've hate-listened to along with the Integrated Schools podcast) show up or don't show up to our IB the responsibility of the suckitude of the school falls on DCPS.

And "Resource Hoarding" is utter BS. Apparently failure to handicap your kids, like DCPS is handicapping Black boys, is resource hoarding.

A comment and a question (as always I’m assuming you’re a real parent and not one of the conservative trolls that come here to divide us.)

First, virtual PreK has been a total joke for everyone. Give in person K a shot before you throw DCPS out. That said I agree DCPS Central really does not do a good job.

Question: when you say “DCPS handicaps Black boys”, what do you mean? That they don’t care about creating and supporting top schools?

Yes, I have a real live brown boy whose hobby is finding mommy's buttons and her last nerve. I'm so thankful my DH has more patience for virtual learning, because I was already wistfully looking at AfAm mom homeschooling vlogs and websites. I'm done. We eventually found a daycare that did PreK and sent him there. We are more happier and sane.

I can't remember the exact quote but I saw a video of Malcolm X speaking and he said something along the lines that system turns Black people off from education, probably as a way to keep them ignorant. Now how DCPS plays a part is in the abysmal ELA PARCC scores of black boys (girls do better). When we were looking for schools for the lottery (our IB school was *shrug* okay but I wanted to see if we could do better) I took particular interest in 3rd grade scores for Black boys (even though he's bi-racial). The scores for the nearby schools or schools along our commutes were either unimpressive or klaxon blaring bad.

Why scores matter to me? They aren't the best metric, but they are an available metric. And I'm not going to do the 'if you just went and visited the school' gaslighting tour. And my DS is sensitive to peer pressure, positive and negative. If the other boys around him aren't excelling, he's gonna catch the stupid.

Lastly, on handicapping. My dad barely graduated high school is is barely literate. Thank God Almighty for the Army where he learned a skill and was able to take that skill and start a business. But I saw how having poor reading and math skills could keep you back, even when you are your own boss. Somehow I feel real Black Empowerment hasn't been tried yet (like socialism) because we Black people as a group have too many members can't read well or do complicated math and DCPS isn't treating the problem like it's a house on fire. The schools that have the worst scores, they just throw money at and it doesn't make things better. Several schools with lousy scores got expensive brand new buildings, but the scores still suck. DCPS doesn't care about real results.

well said, bravo. having seen what it took to teach my white boy to read, write and do math, “house on fire” is the ethos we need, especially after the disaster of school closures. sometimes it seems like the schools get so distracted from basic literacy. another thing I’ve noticed is that for writing and reading, the rigor and focus seems to have dropped way off in 3rd grade. not sure why.

what do you think about the “no excuses” charters like KIPP?