Reply to Does anyone have language immersion regrets?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The tyranny of low expectations guides your thinking, PP. [b]You've set up a false dichotomy - a binary choice between a program which wholeheartedly rejects best practices in immersion instruction and failing in-boundary school. [/b] Why not aim higher, at least in your thinking about options, including those you can work to create?

We left YY because admins clearly didn't have a clue about what they were doing with "immersion," among other things.  Yes, it was a cozy, eye-pleasing, pleasantly diverse school. But the Chinese wasn't being taught well, and the rest of the program was merely passable.

We're New Yorkers, magnet high school grads, used to better quality public school offerings. We bailed for a strong in-boundary DCPS EotP (that's right), home schooling in Chinese (one of us is a native speaker), and MoCo heritage school where immersion really works.

We don't hate YY, we just weren't impressed.[/quote]

I'm the PP you're referencing.  I didn't set up a false dichotomy.  This is literally the choice facing many DC students--an imperfect immersion that you wish had different goals, and failing IB schools.  And for many poor students especially--who constitute the majority of students in DC public schools--it's a ticket to better schools, a more motivated peer group, and gaining some bilingual proficiency in the process.  Even if you keep insisting they speak Mandarin like 4 or 5yos (if not you, some other YY hater who has stated this countless times), these students likely have a far brighter future at YY than at the alternative.
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No point in arguing with this attitude.  [b]What can one say in response but very bright future, absolutely.[/b] We moved to Capitol Hill from further up in NE to access a strong DCPS. We also enrolled in a strong Saturday program for immigrants and ABCs in Rockville (too much homework but the arrangement works).  We regret bothering with YY while the head was a lady who with no real background in Chinese language or culture. I'm guessing that will change eventually.

Sorry, I can't be blamed for YY hate and the observation that kid speak like 4 or 5 yos.[/quote]

PP.  Perhaps you feel that immersion schools are "wasted" on these kids.  I hear your frustration, and agree that native [b]language[/b] preference would be great to implement in more schools.  But in a city like DC, there will always be a tension between best practices for immersion education, and the sort of moral and practical imperative to serve the broader population of schoolchildren in DC.  I'm not sure these schools have found the right balance.  But I wouldn't want them to go away completely.  And it doesn't look like they will, given Todd's push (if it comes to fruition; big 'if') to create eight new immersion schools across the city:

https://www.petworthnews.org/blog/cm-corner-dual-language-schools

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Sorry, meant native "speaker" preference.[/quote]

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