Why does everyone prioritize language immersion?

[Anonymous]

Many claim that immersion is also the pretext used by high SES families who buy in gentrifying neighborhood to avoid their lower-rated neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

We are inbounds for JKLM. But we attend a Spanish dual-language charter because DH is Latin American.

If this were not the case, I would still have lotteried for an immersion school (probably would have slept outside for Yu Ying). Speaking four languages has been very helpful for my international career. But it's also not a coincidence that I speak multiple languages and that I also married a foreigner.

At our school, parents are either: 1) native Spanish speakers; 2) married to a native Spanish speaker; 3) lived abroad or work internationally now; 4) speak Spanish for work/career reasons; 5) non-Spanish speakers from outside the US and want their child to be in an international environment; 6) gentrifiers with no international connections. This last group is by far the smallest group. I can count on one hand the individuals that fall into that category.

We have more and more World Bank types (from outside US, not necessarily Spanish speaking) at our school each year. WIS must have gotten really expensive....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many claim that immersion is also the pretext used by high SES families who buy in gentrifying neighborhood to avoid their lower-rated neighborhood school.

This; see Powell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many claim that immersion is also the pretext used by high SES families who buy in gentrifying neighborhood to avoid their lower-rated neighborhood school.

This; see Powell.

Could be legitimate. Good for the low-rated schools for finding a way to attract higher-SES families. Get enough of them and the school will improve - hopefully without turning into one of the little all-white bastions that start to scare people away (including other white families).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many claim that immersion is also the pretext used by high SES families who buy in gentrifying neighborhood to avoid their lower-rated neighborhood school.

This; see Powell.

What are you talking about? The gentrifiers at Powell are all in-bounds.

[Anonymous]

In my case it’s because I’m a Latina married to an American that doesn’t speak Spanish. I want my kids to learn Spanish to communicate with my family (they speak Spanish now but are not as fluent as English).

I also think Spanish is an important language to speak. It’s spoken in so many places.
It’s definitively a great plus on your resume.

That being said, we didn’t get into any Spanish immersion school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my case it’s because I’m a Latina married to an American that doesn’t speak Spanish. I want my kids to learn Spanish to communicate with my family (they speak Spanish now but are not as fluent as English).

I also think Spanish is an important language to speak. It’s spoken in so many places.
It’s definitively a great plus on your resume.

That being said, we didn’t get into any Spanish immersion school.

It's not a great plus if your science, math, and social studies suffer along with your academic English. Good for some, but not for all as many have already stated for many differing reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my case it’s because I’m a Latina married to an American that doesn’t speak Spanish. I want my kids to learn Spanish to communicate with my family (they speak Spanish now but are not as fluent as English).

I also think Spanish is an important language to speak. It’s spoken in so many places.
It’s definitively a great plus on your resume.

That being said, we didn’t get into any Spanish immersion school.

It's not a great plus if your science, math, and social studies suffer along with your academic English. Good for some, but not for all as many have already stated for many differing reasons.

That's a big if. Some kids are in the 99th percentile in math and 94th in English at immersion schools. (And social studies isn't tested by NAEP, but I'm not worried the monolinguals have an edge in that after all.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many claim that immersion is also the pretext used by high SES families who buy in gentrifying neighborhood to avoid their lower-rated neighborhood school.

This; see Powell.

But couldn't this be said for all the people who buy in gentrifying areas that try to lottery to another school, whether immersion or not? Plus, who cares? People should be able to live where they want and take advantage of the options that the City's education system offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the challenges of immersion study deters most parents of FARMs students from applying to charters, unless they speak the target language at home (Spanish).

With immersion in the mix, you get an overwhelmingly SES student bodies at a few charters (e.g. YuYing, 10% FARMs) like at JKLM, Brent etc.

Also, immersion adds extra challenge in a city without formal GT programs.

Immersion works to get high SES parents what they want when they can't afford Upper NW or the priciest Cap Hill real estate. Few will admit this but that's the story.

Capital Hill is fine, but there's nothing after ES. Upper NW is awful, though. If all you care about is good schools instead of living in the city, then might as well move to the suburbs, which are truly good. Instead, you have the worst of both worlds.

Immersion is a draw for a certain type of family that has high expectations, but is also open and worldly, in a way that those who prefer Tenleytown are not.

We prefer Tenleytown and Janney. We've happily lived and worked on several continents as a family. Our three kids speak Chinese around twice as well as any YY student we got to know when we lived in NE. We spoke Chinese to dozens of them.

You're full of it. DC folk elect to live in Upper NW for many reasons, including the path to Deal and Wilson.

[Anonymous]

As of 2018, the option for parents to choose immersion school to avoid a bad local school only applies to a few charters. Pretty much none of the immersion DCPS allow out-of-boundary students any more do there’s no bad DCPS those parents are “avoiding.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many claim that immersion is also the pretext used by high SES families who buy in gentrifying neighborhood to avoid their lower-rated neighborhood school.

This; see Powell.

But couldn't this be said for all the people who buy in gentrifying areas that try to lottery to another school, whether immersion or not? Plus, who cares? People should be able to live where they want and take advantage of the options that the City's education system offers.

+1,000

but but that's not fair according to progressive liberals you aren't woke enough lol

No, school choice is only for them, not for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the challenges of immersion study deters most parents of FARMs students from applying to charters, unless they speak the target language at home (Spanish).

With immersion in the mix, you get an overwhelmingly SES student bodies at a few charters (e.g. YuYing, 10% FARMs) like at JKLM, Brent etc.

Also, immersion adds extra challenge in a city without formal GT programs.

Immersion works to get high SES parents what they want when they can't afford Upper NW or the priciest Cap Hill real estate. Few will admit this but that's the story.

Capital Hill is fine, but there's nothing after ES. Upper NW is awful, though. If all you care about is good schools instead of living in the city, then might as well move to the suburbs, which are truly good. Instead, you have the worst of both worlds.

Immersion is a draw for a certain type of family that has high expectations, but is also open and worldly, in a way that those who prefer Tenleytown are not.

We prefer Tenleytown and Janney. We've happily lived and worked on several continents as a family. Our three kids speak Chinese around twice as well as any YY student we got to know when we lived in NE. We spoke Chinese to dozens of them.

You're full of it. DC folk elect to live in Upper NW for many reasons, including the path to Deal and Wilson.

Why not go to a good middle and high school? You’re already in the suburbs, might as well send your kids to actual good schools, not Deal and Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the challenges of immersion study deters most parents of FARMs students from applying to charters, unless they speak the target language at home (Spanish).

With immersion in the mix, you get an overwhelmingly SES student bodies at a few charters (e.g. YuYing, 10% FARMs) like at JKLM, Brent etc.

Also, immersion adds extra challenge in a city without formal GT programs.

Immersion works to get high SES parents what they want when they can't afford Upper NW or the priciest Cap Hill real estate. Few will admit this but that's the story.

Capital Hill is fine, but there's nothing after ES. Upper NW is awful, though. If all you care about is good schools instead of living in the city, then might as well move to the suburbs, which are truly good. Instead, you have the worst of both worlds.

Immersion is a draw for a certain type of family that has high expectations, but is also open and worldly, in a way that those who prefer Tenleytown are not.

Immersion in DC charters is for families who were lucky. Not open, not worldly or any other virtue or superior world view. It is pure dumb lottery luck. Though that doesn’t fit the story some people like to play in their heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone prioritizes language immersion for school. We are teaching our kids another language, but don’t see the schools as high priority. The language immersion program boosters tend to be overly zealous and not easy to reason with. Especially the ones that think that non-immersion school kids are stupid.

+1