Reply to Public education: competing interests, philosophical divide

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi. Yep, DS attends Powell. Just to push back on "everybody goes to [insert acronyms for your HRCS]"[/quote]

And honestly how long will you be willing to do that?  My neighbors rented out their house and moved close to Stoddert because they just couldn't stomach the local DCPS.  Another family sold their house and moved to MoCo.  It's really easy to say that when we're talking about PreK, but by the time you're staring 2nd grade in the face and the school just can't deliver academically, people decamp.  [/quote]

+100.  But I don't doubt that the academics are serviceable at many a local DCPS/Title 1 elementary school.  From what I've observed over the years, what drives many high SES parents out are threatening behaviors by low SES kids with tough home lives, a variety of paternalistic DCPS policies as interpreted by admins in schools where most parents are low SES (do as we say, we know best), weak extra-curricular options, heavy PTA responsibilities to get anything done, and the grind of dealing with reverse racism.  You wind up exhausted, and walking on egg shells at the school, along with your kid.  Life is short, and you have options, so you go.

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Right, it's the fault of the low SES people making the school inhospitable to rich people.  As opposed to rich people voting with their feet when they realize ... hey, what we provide to poor people in this country is pretty bad! [/quote]

Oh come on, get a grip, that obviously wasn't the salient point.  Title 1 schools in this country are generally less than hospitable to all families after a point, low and high SES.  DC public schools just aren't very good in the aggregate, though there are points of light, mainly at high-performing charters mostly serving FARMs students.  "Rich" people don't send their kids to DC public schools, period.  Parents making six figures are hardly rich in this city; they're upper middleclass.  It goes without saying that DCPS oozes paternalism, which rankles most high SES families.  It's not PC to talk out reverse racism, yet it's pervasive in this city.  You're white or Asian and you're "rich," so we're resentful and eager to judge, without knowing your story.  No consideration for the fact that you may have grown up poor, attended college on a Pell Grant while borrowing heavily from student loan programs, and worked your tail off, and delayed child bearing until your 40s, to get where you are.  Sue me - after 15 years in the city, my reserve of white guilt has run dry.

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