Reply to 2 Banneker students receive Gates scholarship

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Reply to "2 Banneker students receive Gates scholarship - attending Harvard and Brown"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have an important question.  Why don't more white parents send their children to Banneker?  It appears that the District's white parents only see SWW and Wilson as viable high school options for their high performing children.[/quote]

You know the answer to that question PP.  Black and brown children are acceptable in small doses only.  [/quote]

White students at Wilson comprise just 25% of the total student body. I would hardly quantify the remaining 75% "black and brown" students as a small dose. At School Without Walls, white students comprise just 36% of the student body. I'd start looking for other reasons why whites don't attend Banneker.[/quote]

First of all, respect and congratulations to the 2 kids for these great achievements!

I agree with PPs point. Wilson and Walls are majority-minority.

The "why so few whites at Banneker" issue has been debated on many other threads. But it is worth rehashing here. [b]My personal experience (we're white) is that DCPS sends the message that whites are not welcome at Banneker. They don't say it in so many words, but it is there. I asked the Deal principal (Kim) and the guidance counselors "what about Banneker for my kid" and there response was never enthusiastic. [/b]And the AA Deal parent I asked (whose child not not apply to Banneker) said "Banneker is for the have-nots" and implied that my kid wouldn't be comfortable there. So there you have it. If for next year's 8th graders DCPS says loud and clear at high school presentations that all students are encouraged to apply to Banneker, then whites and Asians will also apply.

The bigger question is how DCPS is handling selective schools overall. The undermining of SWW by merging it with Francis-Stevens is unconscionable. We need strong selective schools that produce high achievers like these two, as well as good programs for the middle and bottom of the curve.[/quote]

What exactly is the implied message that DCPS is sending about Banneker?  Also, it doesn't sound like DCPS was sending the "whites are unwelcome message", it sounds to me that Melissa Kim and the guidance counselors at Deal were sending the message about whites at Banneker.  The reason I asked the question about white parents not wanting to send their children to Banneker is because I frequently read on this forum that white parents want their children to attend safe and academically rigorous schools.  However, it appears that these very same parents don't consider Banneker an option.
[/quote]

I posted that. They never said "don't go" - it was more like a flat "yes, you could go there" whereas they were enthusiastic when they encouraged us to go for SWW. And when we asked around, no one (including AA parents we knew from the school) encouraged us. So we didn't feel comfortable applying. Point is, we didn't avoid Banneker but felt we were subtly being steered away. If DCPS cares about this, they should take the step to encourage students from all backgrounds to apply. I think if they did then the demographics would look more like SWW.[/quote]

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