Reply to “We need to preserve diversity and mitigate the projected whitening of the feeder pattern”

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Reply to "“We need to preserve diversity and mitigate the projected whitening of the feeder pattern”"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think the issue that everyone is dancing around is class. It’s considered fine to be “diverse” so long as they aren’t poor. And we all know that DCUM is afraid of the poor students  - who in DC are predominantly Black and Hispanic -  coming from homes with anything less than white-collar jobs with highly educated parents. It’s terrifying.  Washingtonians aren’t necessarily racists as much as elitist and classist. And in DC class is divided by class. We don’t have a large population of working poor whites. If we did, those students wouldn’t be wanted at the high performing schools either.[/quote]

I really don't think it's this. The problem is massive and overcrowded elementary schools, feeding 1 (soon to be 2) massive and overcrowded MS, feeding 1 massive and overcrowded HS.

DC government wants set aside seats for (1) At-Risk kids AND (2) extra capacity for well-to-do OOB kids whose parents don't want to utilize their local schools because these are both influential political constituencies. DC politicos don't want to make the hard choice of taking away Hardy-Deal/Wilson from the wealthy OOB kids, which this is EXACTLY what needs to happen to make Cardozo, Coolidge, and other under-enrolled facilities become "the next Wilson."

And this is why DC has frantically started construction on two new schools WOTP, hopefully in time for the next Mayoral election. The Mayor is buttering her bread.[/quote]

But the reaction of many the in-bound parents in the WOTP schools to all of this has been to say the solution is just to keep the schools in-bound only and kick OOB students out, regardless of race or class, which is... unhelpful in yet a third way.[/quote]

No one is getting "kicked out." The problem - in the eyes of DCPS - is that the natural demographic growth rate of folks opting in to their local public school is too white. Per DCPS parlance - "whitening." 
All of this crashing up against the fact that the Mayors and OSSE has sat on their hands for nearly two decades and didn't proactively invest in WOTP schools. They'd add a trailer or undertake a renovation 10 years too late.

And now? The number of seats for OOB will be a big fat ZERO right before the next Mayoral election. That's why DCPS is in a hurry to build two new schools.

The reaction of folks I know is that they would actually applaud an At-Risk preference in the lottery and even set-asides. Why? Because (1) they value giving a helping hand to those who need it most and (2) it would force DCPS to hire more resources and expand classroom space to accomodate At-Risk kids.

What really chafes folks is DCPS forcing OOB seats to be added haphazardly to schools and classes with zero transparency, no budgeting for space or resources, swelling class sizes, and those OOB kids actually coming from privileged backgrounds and stable homes. [/quote]

What are your views on Affirmative Action? Do you feel that it is fair as a race based initiative? Or do you think it should be based on SES? Plenty of privileged Black, African American, and Hispanic people benefit over people of all races that are economically depressed.

[/quote]

There are all kinds of privileges but the strongest privilege is being white or perceived as being white.[/quote]

Such nonsense.  The strongest privilege is being very wealthy of course, at least if you come from a loving, stable family.  Hint: seriously rich AA kids attend tony private schools and colleges, and inherit vast wealth.[/quote]

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