Reply to Latin v. BASIS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nobody hates Latin for their rigorous curriculum and decent test scores.  The concern is that they subtly, rather than overtly, favor a certain group of people and harm the quality of public education for others.

The default of charters like Latin is that inherently favor a group of parents - the ones that are willing to go the extra mile and have the knowledge to do so to get into Latin.  Admissions are inherently biased against parents that are under-educated, have language barriers, or are simply not able to expand their vision to include other schools beyond their neighborhood school.   (And for all we know, Latin may subtly pick their parent pool in other ways -- do they do more information sessions in ward 3 than in other wards?)

Regardless of the reason why, the fact remains:  you have a citywide public school that does not look like the city.

From the parent perspective, what is wrong with this?  Nothing.  If you are motivated, educated, etc, you deserve what you can get.  But what about the kid perspective?  Is it fair that Kid A gets a leg up to go to Latin while Kid B gets stuck in some crappy middle school just because his parents don't speak English?  Of course not.  That's why there is concern about what charters like this do to to the concept of "public education."

[b]The net result is that these charters harm neighborhood schools - a group of parents that would be otherwise in the neighborhood schools [/b](and yes, I know, some of these parents would not be in the public schools anyway because they would go private or move), and be active and engaged are instead at Latin (and soon enough BASIS).

It may not be anybody's fault.  Nobody's a bad person for choosing Latin or BASIS.  Nobody has to resent these schools or the parents who send their kids there.  But we also shouldn't pretend that their absence does not have an adverse impact on the quality of neighborhood schools.
[/quote]

But what if you don't like what your neighborhood school has to offer in terms of curriculum or learning approach?  Why would I invest energy in my neighborhood when I don't like or value their curriculum or educational approach?  I could have enrolled my son in our neighborhood school which is considered one of the good east of the park schools.  I liked the diversity and the parents are invested in the school but I was not impressed with the curriculum/educational approach and there is nothing I can do or any other families to change the school and honestly, I don't think the school should change, I just don't like their approach for my child and because I have a choice in DC, I looked and enrolled elsewhere.  Simple as that.[/quote]

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