Atlantic Article on Rolling Terrace and Outsized Role of Affluent White Parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is getting to be ridiculous. If you're white and send your kids to predominantly white schools, you're racist. If you're white and send your kids to "diverse" schools and then get involved in the PTA and care about your kids' education, you're racist. Is there anything white people can do that is NOT racist??

Nice strawman you've got there. NO ONE is saying that white parents are racist for being involved with the PTA. Some white parents, however, are racially tone deaf when it comes to the activities they organize through the PTA and the "causes" that they direct the PTA to take on.

I work in international development. It's a field where it is very easy to do the wrong thing for the "right" reasons. That's why it is so important to involve local voices when planning projects/activities, and to have members of the beneficiary community (the stakeholders, as it were) as EQUAL participants in program design and implementation.

What is the "right" reason to be involved in the PTA?? Because you care about the school and the education the kids are getting! It's basically the ONLY reason to be involved, right or wrong. I didn't think this was a very good article because the examples weren't that great. It was so wrong of the PTA to purchase gift cards to thank the teachers for their hard work? Isn't that part of their job, to show teacher appreciation??

I think it's important to look at the article here. Now, RT parents have disputed this, but the article says this:

For example, parents of kids in the program ensure that its teachers receive gift cards at the beginning of the year and during Teacher Appreciation Week to pay for supplies. “There are parents in our school that can’t put enough cents together to get a coat much less give their teacher their supply list,” Rivera-Blanco said. “That imbalance is huge. You can walk into a classroom and know which is a Spanish-immersion classroom and which one isn’t.”

They aren't talking about the PTA here. They are talking about how the relative affluence of the immersion families creates a disconnect between the immersion classrooms and the "Academy" classrooms in terms of resources.

So, again, it's about where parents are choosing to put their resources. Are parents taking on projects that benefit the whole school, or are they just making sure their own kids are covered?

Same with the Chromebooks. Affluent parents opposed them because THEIR kids get plenty of time to familiarize themselves with technology. Never mind that the majority of the kids in the school don't. It's putting your own compulsions over the needs of the students in the school. Basically, you have middle/upper class parents trying to create a middle/upper class mini-school within a low-income majority-minority school. It has some issues.

But I know for a fact that PTAs ALSO raise funds for supplies for kids who can't afford to pay on their own. Our DC area school does this (and raises money for toys at xmas and coats and such during the winter months). We ALSO raise money for gifts to show teacher appreciation. It's not one way or the other, as this article wants you to believe. And I do believe that it IS a completely legitimate question to ask about screen time. The educational objectives were explained and eventually everyone was satisfied and the computers were purchased. What is wrong with discussing and sharing concerns? If the computers hadn't been purchased at the end, then maybe there is something to the charge of ignoring the needs of poorer students but that is not what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is getting to be ridiculous. If you're white and send your kids to predominantly white schools, you're racist. If you're white and send your kids to "diverse" schools and then get involved in the PTA and care about your kids' education, you're racist. Is there anything white people can do that is NOT racist??

Nice strawman you've got there. NO ONE is saying that white parents are racist for being involved with the PTA. Some white parents, however, are racially tone deaf when it comes to the activities they organize through the PTA and the "causes" that they direct the PTA to take on.

I work in international development. It's a field where it is very easy to do the wrong thing for the "right" reasons. That's why it is so important to involve local voices when planning projects/activities, and to have members of the beneficiary community (the stakeholders, as it were) as EQUAL participants in program design and implementation.

What is the "right" reason to be involved in the PTA?? Because you care about the school and the education the kids are getting! It's basically the ONLY reason to be involved, right or wrong. I didn't think this was a very good article because the examples weren't that great. It was so wrong of the PTA to purchase gift cards to thank the teachers for their hard work? Isn't that part of their job, to show teacher appreciation??

I think it's important to look at the article here. Now, RT parents have disputed this, but the article says this:

For example, parents of kids in the program ensure that its teachers receive gift cards at the beginning of the year and during Teacher Appreciation Week to pay for supplies. “There are parents in our school that can’t put enough cents together to get a coat much less give their teacher their supply list,” Rivera-Blanco said. “That imbalance is huge. You can walk into a classroom and know which is a Spanish-immersion classroom and which one isn’t.”

They aren't talking about the PTA here. They are talking about how the relative affluence of the immersion families creates a disconnect between the immersion classrooms and the "Academy" classrooms in terms of resources.

So, again, it's about where parents are choosing to put their resources. Are parents taking on projects that benefit the whole school, or are they just making sure their own kids are covered?

Same with the Chromebooks. Affluent parents opposed them because THEIR kids get plenty of time to familiarize themselves with technology. Never mind that the majority of the kids in the school don't. It's putting your own compulsions over the needs of the students in the school. Basically, you have middle/upper class parents trying to create a middle/upper class mini-school within a low-income majority-minority school. It has some issues.

Parents simply do not give gift cards at the beginning of the year. This is completely false. Never heard of it at RT ever.

[Anonymous]

But I know for a fact that PTAs ALSO raise funds for supplies for kids who can't afford to pay on their own. Our DC area school does this (and raises money for toys at xmas and coats and such during the winter months). We ALSO raise money for gifts to show teacher appreciation. It's not one way or the other, as this article wants you to believe. And I do believe that it IS a completely legitimate question to ask about screen time. The educational objectives were explained and eventually everyone was satisfied and the computers were purchased. What is wrong with discussing and sharing concerns? If the computers hadn't been purchased at the end, then maybe there is something to the charge of ignoring the needs of poorer students but that is not what happened.

The computers were purchased with county funds, not PTA funds. The PTA just decided to make a big fuss about it ahead of time, even though they knew at that point that the Chromebooks would be disproportionately for the benefit of kids who don't have access to computer technology at home.

If you find yourself vociferously arguing against something that is going to benefit 75% of kids at your child's school, it's time to take a look at your own motivations and how you are using your power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is getting to be ridiculous. If you're white and send your kids to predominantly white schools, you're racist. If you're white and send your kids to "diverse" schools and then get involved in the PTA and care about your kids' education, you're racist. Is there anything white people can do that is NOT racist??

Nope. You pretty much summed it up.

Yep. Just ignore the crazies. It's sad they've taken over the Atlantic, but so be it.

Some are erroneously making this about white people. They are wrong. But I think you can concede that PTA should serve all students.

Of course. I also concede that ALL parents should be active and engaged in their kids' education, and ESPECIALLY RESPECT THOSE WHO MAKE THE TIME AND EFFORT, NOT THE ARMCHAIR CRITICS.

Like I said at RT the PTA is just a power struggle. You can volunteer all you want but you have to do what the clique says. Volunteering is not the issue. At RT the PTA is looking for minions to do there bidding not any input on how things can or should be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is getting to be ridiculous. If you're white and send your kids to predominantly white schools, you're racist. If you're white and send your kids to "diverse" schools and then get involved in the PTA and care about your kids' education, you're racist. Is there anything white people can do that is NOT racist??

Nope. You pretty much summed it up.

Yep. Just ignore the crazies. It's sad they've taken over the Atlantic, but so be it.

Some are erroneously making this about white people. They are wrong. But I think you can concede that PTA should serve all students.

Of course. I also concede that ALL parents should be active and engaged in their kids' education, and ESPECIALLY RESPECT THOSE WHO MAKE THE TIME AND EFFORT, NOT THE ARMCHAIR CRITICS.

Like I said at RT the PTA is just a power struggle. You can volunteer all you want but you have to do what the clique says. Volunteering is not the issue. At RT the PTA is looking for minions to do there bidding not any input on how things can or should be done.

That's BS. Like any other human organization, there are rules and procedures to make decisions. Learn them, get other like-minded people on the PTA, start shaping things and drop the conspiracy theories.

[Anonymous]

I don't see what the shock factor is at all. The programs like this where designed to attract higher income white people to voluntarily self intergrate targeted schools for targeted reasons. If the class rooms looked like the normal class rooms in schools such as RT the parents they hoped to use to mix up that satistics would continue to avoid the targeted schools. What part of this is the surprising part?

Blair without the magnet would be Wheaton or Einstein, but since they put a spiffy lab in it that parents hope will help their kids college chances, they accept it as a host. It is no different than language immersion which using a self imposed language barrier to make sure the kids don't mix much if at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're just down the road at ESS. Same problems, but perhaps less amplified because our kid's school doesn't have the immersion program.

Small, excessively vocal group of white, moneyed parents enforcing their values as if those values are indisputably correct. The PTA is trying to better engage the whole community, but these like 6 parents are so loud it just drowns everything else out.

Yah how dare 6 parents try and effect change in an under performing school. Hevens forbid other kids start getting good test scores and make it out of that neighborhood.

Exactly. I am a member of the PTA and give generously to my kids' class as far as crayons, kleenex, hand sanitizer and pencils. Room parent. Mixed SES, some high, some low, a lot of ESOL, huge school. I also volunteer in the classroom once or twice a week where the student teacher ratiio is 26 to 1. I work with kids who are not getting one on one time with the teacher at the moment. Help them learn to read and write. They know me and are excited to see me when I also volunteer at lunch and recess for the whole grade. I love those kids. I also raise money at the aucton for items that benefit all classes at the school. I am not the only parent at the school who does this. There are many who put time in. According to you all, I am a horrible person. This forum is a freaking soul sucker. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I appreciate our PTA members for all that they do, like pp above. If these other voices want to be heard, they need to attend the meetings and volunteer for things in order to be 'represented' at the PTA. I just don't buy the statement that six grown adults drown out any other voices. Speak up. Don't sit on the sidelines and complain you aren't represented.

I'm the PP who originally mentioned the small group of overly vocal parents at ESS. The issue isn't that parents who donate their immaterial and material resources to the school--like myself and the PP who mistakenly understood my comment to be casting her/him as a "horrible person", among many other dedicated families--are not "heard", it's that a handful of parents whine incessantly and advocate unskillfully for minutiae that matters tremendously to them but likely isn't even on the radar for the rest of us. "Being heard" is just a sliver of all that "being involved" comprises. When there are legitimate problems to tackle, then let's give those problems our due attention. But bemoaning indoor recess and sugar in yogurt like it's this huge undermining of your child's human rights is just ridiculous. It sucks up attention and marginalizes all the other work of "being involved". Honestly, avoiding these traps is part of the work that people have to do in terms of recognizing their privilege and making space for more voices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're just down the road at ESS. Same problems, but perhaps less amplified because our kid's school doesn't have the immersion program.

Small, excessively vocal group of white, moneyed parents enforcing their values as if those values are indisputably correct. The PTA is trying to better engage the whole community, but these like 6 parents are so loud it just drowns everything else out.

Yah how dare 6 parents try and effect change in an under performing school. Hevens forbid other kids start getting good test scores and make it out of that neighborhood.

Exactly. I am a member of the PTA and give generously to my kids' class as far as crayons, kleenex, hand sanitizer and pencils. Room parent. Mixed SES, some high, some low, a lot of ESOL, huge school. I also volunteer in the classroom once or twice a week where the student teacher ratiio is 26 to 1. I work with kids who are not getting one on one time with the teacher at the moment. Help them learn to read and write. They know me and are excited to see me when I also volunteer at lunch and recess for the whole grade. I love those kids. I also raise money at the aucton for items that benefit all classes at the school. I am not the only parent at the school who does this. There are many who put time in. According to you all, I am a horrible person. This forum is a freaking soul sucker. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I appreciate our PTA members for all that they do, like pp above. If these other voices want to be heard, they need to attend the meetings and volunteer for things in order to be 'represented' at the PTA. I just don't buy the statement that six grown adults drown out any other voices. Speak up. Don't sit on the sidelines and complain you aren't represented.

I'm the PP who originally mentioned the small group of overly vocal parents at ESS. The issue isn't that parents who donate their immaterial and material resources to the school--like myself and the PP who mistakenly understood my comment to be casting her/him as a "horrible person", among many other dedicated families--are not "heard", it's that a handful of parents whine incessantly and advocate unskillfully for minutiae that matters tremendously to them but likely isn't even on the radar for the rest of us. "Being heard" is just a sliver of all that "being involved" comprises. When there are legitimate problems to tackle, then let's give those problems our due attention. But bemoaning indoor recess and sugar in yogurt like it's this huge undermining of your child's human rights is just ridiculous. It sucks up attention and marginalizes all the other work of "being involved". Honestly, avoiding these traps is part of the work that people have to do in terms of recognizing their privilege and making space for more voices.

It doesn't marginalize the "other work being involved", it marginalizes the less important voices clamoring for disproportionate resources. Get to a place where your voice can be held in parity and you will obtain parity. It isn't the other way around! People recognize privilege by maintaining it and propagating it, not by dismantling it after generations and generations of setting it up. There are no shortcuts in life and this laughable notion of absolute parity and fairness is a farce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're just down the road at ESS. Same problems, but perhaps less amplified because our kid's school doesn't have the immersion program.

Small, excessively vocal group of white, moneyed parents enforcing their values as if those values are indisputably correct. The PTA is trying to better engage the whole community, but these like 6 parents are so loud it just drowns everything else out.

Yah how dare 6 parents try and effect change in an under performing school. Hevens forbid other kids start getting good test scores and make it out of that neighborhood.

Exactly. I am a member of the PTA and give generously to my kids' class as far as crayons, kleenex, hand sanitizer and pencils. Room parent. Mixed SES, some high, some low, a lot of ESOL, huge school. I also volunteer in the classroom once or twice a week where the student teacher ratiio is 26 to 1. I work with kids who are not getting one on one time with the teacher at the moment. Help them learn to read and write. They know me and are excited to see me when I also volunteer at lunch and recess for the whole grade. I love those kids. I also raise money at the aucton for items that benefit all classes at the school. I am not the only parent at the school who does this. There are many who put time in. According to you all, I am a horrible person. This forum is a freaking soul sucker. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I appreciate our PTA members for all that they do, like pp above. If these other voices want to be heard, they need to attend the meetings and volunteer for things in order to be 'represented' at the PTA. I just don't buy the statement that six grown adults drown out any other voices. Speak up. Don't sit on the sidelines and complain you aren't represented.

I'm the PP who originally mentioned the small group of overly vocal parents at ESS. The issue isn't that parents who donate their immaterial and material resources to the school--like myself and the PP who mistakenly understood my comment to be casting her/him as a "horrible person", among many other dedicated families--are not "heard", it's that a handful of parents whine incessantly and advocate unskillfully for minutiae that matters tremendously to them but likely isn't even on the radar for the rest of us. "Being heard" is just a sliver of all that "being involved" comprises. When there are legitimate problems to tackle, then let's give those problems our due attention. But bemoaning indoor recess and sugar in yogurt like it's this huge undermining of your child's human rights is just ridiculous. It sucks up attention and marginalizes all the other work of "being involved". Honestly, avoiding these traps is part of the work that people have to do in terms of recognizing their privilege and making space for more voices.

It doesn't marginalize the "other work being involved", it marginalizes the less important voices clamoring for disproportionate resources. Get to a place where your voice can be held in parity and you will obtain parity. It isn't the other way around! People recognize privilege by maintaining it and propagating it, not by dismantling it after generations and generations of setting it up. There are no shortcuts in life and this laughable notion of absolute parity and fairness is a farce.

Do you hear yourself?!

[Anonymous]

I am an RT immersion parent and not particularly involved in the PTA. Like other Atlantic articles, they make some valid points but get careless with the examples used in the article (like that article about the plight of the middle class written by the guy living in the Hamptons having sent his kids to Ivies). RT is not in a gentrifying neighborhood and while the immersion program is mostly white, there is a healthy minority representation and there are also some white families in the regular program. While there may have been some concern about screen time with the Chromebooks, I remember much more concern over security issues and also that the parents weren't given much notice or information about how the computers would be used. But at the end of the day, parents couldn't have stopped the implementation of that if they wanted to, since it was coming from the county. As others have mentioned, the gift card thing was totally misrepresented. The PTA does try to spread resources, but it also can't stop parents who give directly to the teachers. Since I am not intimately involved in PTA, I can't speak to cliques and what not, but they do seem to make an effort to be inclusive. There are translators at meetings, and communications in Spanish. I think they would also acknowledge room for improvement - at least they did at the beginning of last year. To some extent, PTAs are always going to reflect primarily the interests of those most involved. I'm not sure how you over some that when you also throw in language and cultural barriers.

[Anonymous]

PP volunteer here. Seriously though, this whole thread and this article is a huge problem. Schools SUCCEED when there are involved parents. It makes or breaks a school. The schools that fail by and large have parents who are NOT involved. So uninvolved parents want to whine and complain about things they don't like the white affluent parents doing? I have some advice, take just a few hours out of your year and volunteer, get involved, make your voice heard. No one is stopping you! But if your goal is simply to marginalize white affluent parents because you can't stand them, then you are shooting yourself in the foot and hurting all children who benefit from the interest of dedicated parents. By the way, many of the most involved PTA parents and PTA members at our school are NOT white and bust their tails to make things happen for the kids. And a lot of these parents are my close personal friends. Quit hating on whitey and get involved!!! Make your school the best it can be for all students. PTA members would welcome you with open arms!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're just down the road at ESS. Same problems, but perhaps less amplified because our kid's school doesn't have the immersion program.

Small, excessively vocal group of white, moneyed parents enforcing their values as if those values are indisputably correct. The PTA is trying to better engage the whole community, but these like 6 parents are so loud it just drowns everything else out.

Yah how dare 6 parents try and effect change in an under performing school. Hevens forbid other kids start getting good test scores and make it out of that neighborhood.

Exactly. I am a member of the PTA and give generously to my kids' class as far as crayons, kleenex, hand sanitizer and pencils. Room parent. Mixed SES, some high, some low, a lot of ESOL, huge school. I also volunteer in the classroom once or twice a week where the student teacher ratiio is 26 to 1. I work with kids who are not getting one on one time with the teacher at the moment. Help them learn to read and write. They know me and are excited to see me when I also volunteer at lunch and recess for the whole grade. I love those kids. I also raise money at the aucton for items that benefit all classes at the school. I am not the only parent at the school who does this. There are many who put time in. According to you all, I am a horrible person. This forum is a freaking soul sucker. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I appreciate our PTA members for all that they do, like pp above. If these other voices want to be heard, they need to attend the meetings and volunteer for things in order to be 'represented' at the PTA. I just don't buy the statement that six grown adults drown out any other voices. Speak up. Don't sit on the sidelines and complain you aren't represented.

I'm the PP who originally mentioned the small group of overly vocal parents at ESS. The issue isn't that parents who donate their immaterial and material resources to the school--like myself and the PP who mistakenly understood my comment to be casting her/him as a "horrible person", among many other dedicated families--are not "heard", it's that a handful of parents whine incessantly and advocate unskillfully for minutiae that matters tremendously to them but likely isn't even on the radar for the rest of us. "Being heard" is just a sliver of all that "being involved" comprises. When there are legitimate problems to tackle, then let's give those problems our due attention. But bemoaning indoor recess and sugar in yogurt like it's this huge undermining of your child's human rights is just ridiculous. It sucks up attention and marginalizes all the other work of "being involved". Honestly, avoiding these traps is part of the work that people have to do in terms of recognizing their privilege and making space for more voices.

It doesn't marginalize the "other work being involved", it marginalizes the less important voices clamoring for disproportionate resources. Get to a place where your voice can be held in parity and you will obtain parity. It isn't the other way around! People recognize privilege by maintaining it and propagating it, not by dismantling it after generations and generations of setting it up. There are no shortcuts in life and this laughable notion of absolute parity and fairness is a farce.

Do you hear yourself?!

You tell me which generational benefits are not ok to keep and pass down and which ones are? Do I need to prop up the peasants and working class in other countries too or just the ones inside my borders? I am sorry but the baby of a poor uneducated single parent doesn't really deserve the same access to stuff that a multigenerational good family kid gets. They may want it, the mother working hard at McDonalds may not understand why they will never get it, and no one would accuse the situation of being equal and fair but that doesn't mean they are entitled to it. Just as a child born in a slum in Bangladesh will not have the same life as one born in Los Gatos simply because the people around them didn't build the same environment, why should somebody get to bypass life's strategic positioning just because they want to? What this Bull shit "privilege" talking point is amounts to resource redistribution, plain and simple.

People need to stop thinking with wants and hopes and start treating life like a game of chess and realize that sometimes they might have to put in the work that they might not see the benifits of so that others get the benifits and relize that if you don't have access it is by design, either take it or move on. All lives don't matter and that is the way the world works. A private is not worth the same as a general and if given the choice the system would sacrifice thousands of privates to save one general. Just consider your nuclear unit (as you chose to define) as a bunch of privates. Also take a step back and relize most great things in human history were built on the backs of people who never got to partake in the benifits of them, hell I bet your outfit you are wearing while reading this and the phone or computer you're reading it on was made by borderline slaves. But when oppression happens to you on a smaller scale it is messed up? Hypocrital small thinking by small people at its worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're just down the road at ESS. Same problems, but perhaps less amplified because our kid's school doesn't have the immersion program.

Small, excessively vocal group of white, moneyed parents enforcing their values as if those values are indisputably correct. The PTA is trying to better engage the whole community, but these like 6 parents are so loud it just drowns everything else out.

Yah how dare 6 parents try and effect change in an under performing school. Hevens forbid other kids start getting good test scores and make it out of that neighborhood.

Exactly. I am a member of the PTA and give generously to my kids' class as far as crayons, kleenex, hand sanitizer and pencils. Room parent. Mixed SES, some high, some low, a lot of ESOL, huge school. I also volunteer in the classroom once or twice a week where the student teacher ratiio is 26 to 1. I work with kids who are not getting one on one time with the teacher at the moment. Help them learn to read and write. They know me and are excited to see me when I also volunteer at lunch and recess for the whole grade. I love those kids. I also raise money at the aucton for items that benefit all classes at the school. I am not the only parent at the school who does this. There are many who put time in. According to you all, I am a horrible person. This forum is a freaking soul sucker. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I appreciate our PTA members for all that they do, like pp above. If these other voices want to be heard, they need to attend the meetings and volunteer for things in order to be 'represented' at the PTA. I just don't buy the statement that six grown adults drown out any other voices. Speak up. Don't sit on the sidelines and complain you aren't represented.

I'm the PP who originally mentioned the small group of overly vocal parents at ESS. The issue isn't that parents who donate their immaterial and material resources to the school--like myself and the PP who mistakenly understood my comment to be casting her/him as a "horrible person", among many other dedicated families--are not "heard", it's that a handful of parents whine incessantly and advocate unskillfully for minutiae that matters tremendously to them but likely isn't even on the radar for the rest of us. "Being heard" is just a sliver of all that "being involved" comprises. When there are legitimate problems to tackle, then let's give those problems our due attention. But bemoaning indoor recess and sugar in yogurt like it's this huge undermining of your child's human rights is just ridiculous. It sucks up attention and marginalizes all the other work of "being involved". Honestly, avoiding these traps is part of the work that people have to do in terms of recognizing their privilege and making space for more voices.

It doesn't marginalize the "other work being involved", it marginalizes the less important voices clamoring for disproportionate resources. Get to a place where your voice can be held in parity and you will obtain parity. It isn't the other way around! People recognize privilege by maintaining it and propagating it, not by dismantling it after generations and generations of setting it up. There are no shortcuts in life and this laughable notion of absolute parity and fairness is a farce.

Do you hear yourself?!

You tell me which generational benefits are not ok to keep and pass down and which ones are? Do I need to prop up the peasants and working class in other countries too or just the ones inside my borders? I am sorry but the baby of a poor uneducated single parent doesn't really deserve the same access to stuff that a multigenerational good family kid gets. They may want it, the mother working hard at McDonalds may not understand why they will never get it, and no one would accuse the situation of being equal and fair but that doesn't mean they are entitled to it. Just as a child born in a slum in Bangladesh will not have the same life as one born in Los Gatos simply because the people around them didn't build the same environment, why should somebody get to bypass life's strategic positioning just because they want to? What this Bull shit "privilege" talking point is amounts to resource redistribution, plain and simple.

People need to stop thinking with wants and hopes and start treating life like a game of chess and realize that sometimes they might have to put in the work that they might not see the benifits of so that others get the benifits and relize that if you don't have access it is by design, either take it or move on. All lives don't matter and that is the way the world works. A private is not worth the same as a general and if given the choice the system would sacrifice thousands of privates to save one general. Just consider your nuclear unit (as you chose to define) as a bunch of privates. Also take a step back and relize most great things in human history were built on the backs of people who never got to partake in the benifits of them, hell I bet your outfit you are wearing while reading this and the phone or computer you're reading it on was made by borderline slaves. But when oppression happens to you on a smaller scale it is messed up? Hypocrital small thinking by small people at its worse.

'k. Whatever you need to tell yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to admit that this is right in the sweet spot of things I find fascinating - gentrification, education policy, and how language immersion programs have been co-opted by White families.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/how-marginalized-families-are-pushed-out-of-ptas/491036/

When schools are cash-strapped, the priorities of the members of the parent organization often become the priorities of the school as a whole. Rivera-Blanco says she sees this dynamic play out often at Rolling Terrace with the Spanish-immersion program, which is populated largely by students with means. For example, parents of kids in the program ensure that its teachers receive gift cards at the beginning of the year and during Teacher Appreciation Week to pay for supplies. “There are parents in our school that can’t put enough cents together to get a coat much less give their teacher their supply list,” Rivera-Blanco said. “That imbalance is huge. You can walk into a classroom and know which is a Spanish-immersion classroom and which one isn’t.”

Maybe Rivera-Blanco needs to worry about working and saving for her own family and stop looking at all those that make more than her. She is probably lucky to be in this country. Getting a free education, break breakfast, free lunch, and free english lessons for her kids just aren't enough I guess.

I am so sick of the FARMS and ESOL complaints. Each one of their kids costs more to teach than the affluent kids and most don't go into the few selected programs offered. Be lucky there are still affluent families left in Montgomery County who pay the ridiculous taxes to supply all these programs to the ever increasing poor (and many illegal) immigrant population.

If we get rid of immersion and magnets, let's get rid of ESOL and FARMS too. See how that goes over.

[Anonymous]

What I don't understand, when I see all these trendy articles winning about this or that, is why no reporter asks the really interesting question:

Where are the Affluent Black Parents?

Because they exist, and I don't see them in public school.