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African American Experience at Maret
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Anonymous
| Applying for K. Interested in any thoughts of current parents regarding the experience of minority students. Another parent mentioned hearing that the kids segregate themselves according to race -- more than would be expected. Very much like this school, but don't want to put my African American child any more awkward situations than necessary. |
Anonymous
| Since your application is in don't you think its a little late to be researching? I noticed alot of minorities on our tour as well as at the playdate. I believe in every school there will be some segregating according to what the child is most comfortable. So the AA child tends to play with the other child AA child and so forth. As long as the teacher is encouraging all the children to play with one another which I would assume all schools there should be no problem. You cannot control what happens in middle school. Groups will be set just like when we were in school..you had groups of nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, etc and atleast at my school the skin color didn't matter! This is 2010 and not 1965 !!!! |
Anonymous
^^Yeah, that really answered OP's question. 
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Sorry but I just get sick of people making stupid comments about how they think schools are segregated. It is a fact that eople including small children will surround themselves with others that are like them, whether black, white, rich, poor! When a child comes into a room with strangers (ex: playdate) they will tend to play with the person that most resembles them. Does that mean the school is segregated? |
Anonymous
| OP, the kids may segregate according to race because they gravitate to the more familiar. It's all about who you're more comfortable around. If your family socializes with a diverse group of friends, your child is likely to follow that example at school. |
Anonymous
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understand this. the question is not whether kids at Maret gravitate toward kids they see as similiar. i think we all believe this to be true everywhere. rather, someone suggested to me that the racial segregation was "more than expected" at Maret. Just trying to have this opinion confirmed or dispelled as without basis so I can move on to my next question.
would love to hear from a current Maret parent. |
Anonymous
Not to be rude, blurt out what you're trying to uncover. Not a Maret parent, but do have a couple of friends with kids there. When my DC was at Beauvoir they would stratify most of the AA children in one class. Is that the sort of thing you are referring to? |
Anonymous
| OP, I am sorry that your thread has gone badly. I don't think it will be easy to fix now. |
Anonymous
Sorry. No. i am aware of the Beauvoir herding strategy and think it is a good idea when there are limited numbers of minorities. my question here is concerned about kids segregating themselves according to race, more than would normally be expected. interested in what current parents have to say on whether or not this is the case. |
Anonymous
Example: All the AA kids automatically going to their lunch table? OP, I hope a current parent replies. So sick of having to deal with this shit. |
Anonymous
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my question here is concerned about kids segregating themselves according to race, more than would normally be expected. interested in what current parents have to say on whether or not this is the case.
How could one school have this happening? Are you saying the administration/teachers may not be good about making the children all play together? Sounds silly. Or are you saying that Maret is recruiting racist parents?? OKAY...yeah that must be it!! Dumb question..NEXT.... |
SAM2
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OP, I unfortunately don't have an answer for you, but I do have a suggestion. In addition to asking for input here, I think that after you receive your acceptance letter from Maret, you could ask the Maret admissions office to give you names/emails/numbers of 3-4 AA families at Maret, so you can talk to them directly about their experiences there. That way, you can be very direct and clear in your questions with someone who should have answers. Alternatively, you could call/email the school's diversity coordinators directly to ask them for contacts with parents.
http://www.maret.org/parents/mpa/mpa_diversity_committee/index.aspx http://www.maret.org/parents/mpa/mpa_contacts/index.aspx Good luck! |
Anonymous
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I think it is a myth, actually, that kids self-segregate by race as a rule. They didn't at the DC private school I attended back in the day and they don't at the school my DC attends now. I think if this is happening at a particular school, it is useful information. The person who said it is a dumb question is way out of line. If there is something about the culture of a school that I wouldn't like, I want to know about it. This has nothing to do with blaming the school or the parents or anyone, it just has to do with finding the right school for my child.
I'm not OP, BTW, and I'm not AA. I'm just always amazed by the fact that any time an AA parent raising a question about race, there are a few white parents who post like it is unspeakable to even ask these questions. |
Anonymous
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If people don't think that kids self-segregate by race without direction, they should read the pertinent chapter in Nurture Shock, and/or the research underlying it. The research shows that kids of all races absolutely do this absent direction and discussion.
At the private school I attended back in the day, AA students did segregate by race, for example eating lunch together. I think there are ways to combat this, but my school certainly did not do it 25+ years ago. So, 10:28, your kid's school seems to be doing a good job. You should name the school, no reason not to. OP's question is certainly valid, and it's unfortunate that others who have no idea what OP's experience might be like are questioning it. |