Reply to DME Kicks Off DCPS Boundary Review; Changes Expected for 2015-16 School Year

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]
This is a very important point. I know several AA parents from Ward 3 who would not consider sending their kids to Wilson. All send their kids to St. Johns. They don't want their kids exposed to low SES AA kids is how they explained it.
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If true, that is a troubling attitude. No better than white families who are afraid of exposing their children to low SES AA kids.
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I find it troubling that white liberals don't understand it.  Even now.  Come on folks, try to step out of your culture and myopia for a minute.  It is not driven by the same motive as white families who are afraid of exposing their children to low SES AA kids.  I know some parents who would not send their kids to Latin and BASIS for the same reasons.

It actually is a completely different thing.  Black kids who do well in a school where there are a lot of black under performing kids are harassed, accused of "acting white" etc etc.  This is not what low SES AA kids do to white kids.  They may pick on them a bit, but they don't accuse them of being traitors and the amount of venom is just not similar.

We live in Ward 3.

My husband grew up in bad parts of NYC, which he will not take us to, and he will never send our kids to Wilson because of the same issues in the Latino community.  Our kids can discover their roots in college, but first they have to get there, without being threatened by a bunch of other Latino kids because they are doing well academically.

I used to think of this as "crabs in a barrel" that the kids who are not succeeding don't want others to succeed, but it is much more complicated, runs deeper, and is more dangerous.  I don't know about gang activity at Wilson.  But we would stay away from any school with a large population of Latino FARMS kids.

The chances of a white kid falling in with a "bad white crowd" is more likely at private school probably than at Wilson.  But by "bad white crowd" you mean over privileged rich kids who drink and smoke pot not kids who deal drugs and carry weapons whose lifestyle might seem dangerous and intriguing to a higher SES AA or Latino teen.  There is a difference between a bunch of white kids going slumming and my child stepping over one of these lines because the lines are more blurry and the consequences could be deadly.  I don't mean to exaggerate, but I am completely serious about this and higher SES AA parents I think have the same concerns.

It is completely different from the fears that white people have about lower SES AA and Latino kids, and it is just too dangerous to risk.[/quote]

Very well said, PP. I was that AA kid who was harassed because I was "too white." I didn't fit in with the white kids and didn't fit in with the black kids because I wasn't "black enough." But like you said, it was vicious how I was treated by black kids - they'd say I thought I was "too good" for them so I was a daily target and made to feel like I wasn't wanted there. Lots of bullying and black kids threatening to fight me.  The white kids I knew didn't deal with half the stuff I did.

Which is why I too worry about sending my AA kid to a low-SES school. I wouldn't wish my experience on anyone - especially my kid. I've been taking her to some local playgrounds where there are low-SES kids and I see my horrible childhood experience all over again. It's not just the kids, but the parents too.

For those who don't know, an AA in a low-SES school is much, much different than the experience of a white kid in a low-SES school. Those of us who have been there try hard to star FAR AWAY!

BTW... I used to be all for my neighborhood school and helping out the community. But now that I have to make decisions about my child... it's impossible to agree to put him in a school where I know full well he is likely to experience a very tough road.  If you are that parent, great for you. Me... no, won't do it.[/quote]

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