esevdali wrote:We seem like the sort of DC family that would be a perfect fit for Yu Ying--my husband's family immigrated from Hong Kong and we're raising our daughter to speak fluent Chinese--but we're not planning to put our name in the hat for Pre-K because we're under the impression that the PTA and the board are brimming with enthusiasm for painfully PC approaches to teaching and learning Chinese. We think it's silly that the DC law on charter schools doesn't support two lotteries for language immerson schools - one for speakers of the language and one for children who don't speak the language, aiming for a 50-50 split such as at Oyster (DCPS school, Spanish-English). The demographics at Yu Ying ooze PC nonsense to us - boatloads of low-income kids, girls adopted from China and white kids, but only a handful of actual Chinese families with actual Chinese-speaking children to enrich the learning experience for all the pupils. Listen to the kids in the hallways and on the playground -they speak almost no Chinese out of the range of teachers. And why should they when the vast majority don't speak the language at home? Most of of our "ABC" (American Born Chinese) friends in DC think similarly. We have a saying about Yu Ying - if you're Chinese, you're too Chinese for the school. Stay away, we say, we'll band together and do much better teaching our kids to read and write Chinese on our own. It's a no brainer that most low-income kids are going to struggle with a Chinese immersion program, even if they could learn Chinese from a good many native-speaking peers. Dare to state the obvious at a Yu Ying PTA meeting and prepare to be called all sorts of names. It's an Emperor's New Clothes situation that shouldn't be perpetuated, but surely will. Neither the principal nor the vice principal even speak Chinese. The school has its good points in rough DCPS terrain but it's a pretentious place with a high drop-out rate for good reason.

Anonymous wrote:No worries; we will surely stay away unless the DC law on charter schools is amended a third time, this time to allow individual schools to develop unique admissions criteria (and it may, the DC City Council plans to consider the issue next year) and Yu Ying welcomes us. The former seems increasingly likely, while the latter is clearly very unlikely. The problem is that kids learn languages best when they're taught not only be instructors but by peers - Columbia Teachers College in NYC has sponsored several good studies on the subject in the last decade, which can be found easily. Our Chinese au pair is friendly with au pairs who care for Yu Ying kids from non ABC families, enabling us to meet parents with similar concerns. The Chinese au pairs like to joke that the Yu Ying kids speak Mandarin very formally for young children because they aren't learning "kid talk" from classmates. The parents tell us that not having more than a handful of bilingual kids enrolled, and Chinese parents involved in the institution, is a serious problem that is well known but seldom discussed at PTA meetings in a PC environment. Our kids will learn to speak Chinese well, and without foreign accents, regardless. It's the Yu Ying kids, and the DC taxpayer, who could be better served.

esevdali wrote:We seem like the sort of DC family that would be a perfect fit for Yu Ying--my husband's family immigrated from Hong Kong and we're raising our daughter to speak fluent Chinese--but we're not planning to put our name in the hat for Pre-K because we're under the impression that the PTA and the board are brimming with enthusiasm for painfully PC approaches to teaching and learning Chinese. We think it's silly that the DC law on charter schools doesn't support two lotteries for language immerson schools - one for speakers of the language and one for children who don't speak the language, aiming for a 50-50 split such as at Oyster (DCPS school, Spanish-English). The demographics at Yu Ying ooze PC nonsense to us - boatloads of low-income kids, girls adopted from China and white kids, but only a handful of actual Chinese families with actual Chinese-speaking children to enrich the learning experience for all the pupils. Listen to the kids in the hallways and on the playground -they speak almost no Chinese out of the range of teachers. And why should they when the vast majority don't speak the language at home? Most of of our "ABC" (American Born Chinese) friends in DC think similarly. We have a saying about Yu Ying - if you're Chinese, you're too Chinese for the school. Stay away, we say, we'll band together and do much better teaching our kids to read and write Chinese on our own. It's a no brainer that most low-income kids are going to struggle with a Chinese immersion program, even if they could learn Chinese from a good many native-speaking peers. Dare to state the obvious at a Yu Ying PTA meeting and prepare to be called all sorts of names. It's an Emperor's New Clothes situation that shouldn't be perpetuated, but surely will. Neither the principal nor the vice principal even speak Chinese. The school has its good points in rough DCPS terrain but it's a pretentious place with a high drop-out rate for good reason.

Trust me--you're not a perfect fit for Yu Ying. You're a nightmare. I pity the school that gets you and your "sayings". PS: Currently there is no "vice principal", but the previous Assistant Principal was fluent in Mandarin. Why don't you move to the suburbs and pat yourself on the back about how authentic you and your family are?

Anonymous wrote:No worries; we will surely stay away unless the DC law on charter schools is amended a third time, this time to allow individual schools to develop unique admissions criteria (and it may, the DC City Council plans to consider the issue next year) and Yu Ying welcomes us. The former seems increasingly likely, while the latter is clearly very unlikely. The problem is that kids learn languages best when they're taught not only be instructors but by peers - Columbia Teachers College in NYC has sponsored several good studies on the subject in the last decade, which can be found easily. Our Chinese au pair is friendly with au pairs who care for Yu Ying kids from non ABC families, enabling us to meet parents with similar concerns. The Chinese au pairs like to joke that the Yu Ying kids speak Mandarin very formally for young children because they aren't learning "kid talk" from classmates. The parents tell us that not having more than a handful of bilingual kids enrolled, and Chinese parents involved in the institution, is a serious problem that is well known but seldom discussed at PTA meetings in a PC environment. Our kids will learn to speak Chinese well, and without foreign accents, regardless. It's the Yu Ying kids, and the DC taxpayer, who could be better served.