Reply to Study: "Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum" (yes, this one)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]White affluent parents do a lot of things that exacerbate racial inequities--moving to segregated neighborhoods, choosing schools w/larger white populations, redshirting, pandemic pods, etc., all in the name of "doing what's best for my kids."  I hope with more recent scholarship on these issues (opportunity hoarding, etc.), this leads to some reflection.  [/quote]

Reflection by itself is meaningless. I reflect every time I eat an extra brownie. That doesn't stop me from eating it. At some point, [b]the narrative will have to move beyond name-calling and shaming a[/b]nd start proposing ideas for changing things. If parents are faced with an inbound DCPS school in which over half the kids are not a grade level and you can't convince them that this is still a good opportunity for their child, they will avoid the school. Whether they avoid it by going OOB, charter, private, or moving probably doesn't matter much, but they will avoid it. [/quote]

This is your subjective account of this type of research, and your knee-jerk defensiveness and white fragility is getting in the way of considering these issues further.  I fail to see why reflection/awareness isn't a reasonable interim goal while others are still working on long-term solutions.  Perhaps many parents here should sit with this a bit, instead of immediately defending their decision-making.

This is a good, linked discussion of some of these issues, in a DC area pandemic pods group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dmvhomeschool/permalink/3572497386116851/[/quote]

I am sure that you mean well, but you are doing tremendous harm to the cause that you appear to support. The report offered no suggestions for change whatsoever and the report's supporters here have defended that. You offer nothing other that "reflection", something most of us have engaged in since the day our children were born (and in some cases earlier). You obviously don't know what white people should do differently (other than reflect) but you expect them to know.

I don't need to waste my time reading about pods. I have read about them for a year. Are you unaware of the discussions on this site? I didn't form a pod for my kid.

I know that you have all the answers (except when you don't) and have a slew of buzzwords and labels that you can deploy at will in lieu of actual substance, if you are serious about improving the educational opportunities of the underserved you need to radically change your approach.
[/quote]

Wow.  No reflection.  I guess a hit dog will holler.[/quote]

Wow, just name calling and a complete lack of substance. There is not a single poster in this forum who could benefit from reflection more than you. I have never seen someone so convinced that they have a complete monopoly on the truth. You sit in judgment of all of us but have nothing of substance to contribute.
[/quote]

You fundamentally misunderstand the point of reports like these.  It's descriptive; the goal is to describe a problem, not to offer solutions in the same report.  I was patient in several earlier posts in trying to explain this, but you have doubled down on your complaints.  You don't like that your site has been portrayed in this light (which is understandable) and so have characterized the report as shaming and name-calling, instead of perhaps considering some of the points made.  White people do indeed make decisions influenced by racial dynamics as discussed in prior research; this is uncontroversial.

It is frustrating because you are completing rigid in your defensiveness and will cede nothing, over several days of posting.  Perhaps it's possible that parents want to do what's best for their kids AND their decisions are impacted by unconscious or conscious biases and assumptions about what makes a good school?  I'm a black parent who has visited this site for years, and the racism and classism is entirely clear to me and others, some of whom I know have stopped even visiting this site.  I'm not sure what else to say at this point except good luck in complaining about what you see as unfair treatment instead of considering some of the issues raised.[/quote]

Except is there any evidence that schools in DC are increasingly segregated? what I see on DCUM is parents exchanging information about schools and using it to pick schools that fit their needs - and these schools are much more integrated than most white kids attend. Plenty of parents learn about JO Wilson, Two Rivers, Stuart Hobson, Payne, myriad charters, and enroll their kids there. Is your argument is that white parents should be lotterying to get OOB seats in Ward 7 and 8? [/quote]

... other schools that DCUM probably operated to get UMC buy-in are seaton, garrison, langley ... all IB schools that have become increasingly integrated over the years I’ve been on DCUM. In fact, I’d bet money that an actual social scientist who analyzed DCUM postings about the subset of schools that have increased in integration over time would be able to theorize that DCUM *increases* integration. [/quote]

Eye-Roll - DCUM operates nothing but conjucture.[/quote]

So if that's accurate, DCUM doesn't do anything to further segregation in the city.  I would agree with that.  But then the study is wrong; do you agree?

If we take the premise from the report that white people influence other white people's choices on where to send their kids, and that DCUM is a vehicle for this information spread, I could 100% believe that DCUM is actually furthering integration of certain schools.  People EOTP are more likely to be the ones lotterying out of the IB schools (I think data shows that's true).  EOTP is desperate to find a reasonable school.  A school gets a white "stamp of approval" and yeah, you'll see more white families lottery to go there.  It's fun, because it's using a racist idea -- white people wanting to be around other white people -- but using it for the anti-racist agenda of integration.[/quote]

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