Reply to Banneker v. Wilson

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Banneker v. Wilson"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]

It isn't at all strange to not want you or your kid of be an extreme minority in any instance - race, sex, physical ability, SES, etc. It doesn't mean that diversity isn't valued, but I wouldn't want to go to a school that was 99% male or 99% outside my SES status (far below or above) just because it is important to feel like you aren't an outlier. That isn't strange or racist. That is totally normal and healthy. Again, it doesn't mean there isn't a ton of value in being exposed to all kinds of diversity but people (especially kids) often need to feel like they have a secure basis to really learn from it, which comes, in part, from familiarity. I am saying this as someone who went to a school that was probably 90% white with very high SES (where I was on the lower end) until 8th grade and then moved to a school that was about 15% white with a lot more economic diversity. I learned a lot from the experience, but I think moving to a school where I was in the 2% minority both racially and economically would have made the transition very difficult. [/quote]But the thing to remember this is a 2% minority at [i]Banneker[/i], not Ballou.  Not saying that that 2% shouldn't deter you from sending your child but I am arguing that you should check it out first and get more information.  Go to the open house.  Talk to parents and staff.  Apply and go through the process.  Then decide.[/quote]

Im about a decade out before we have to start looking at high schools, but I agree you shouldn’t write a school off based solely on demographics. I just think it’s ridiculous to imply (as several have on the thread in both overt and subtle ways) that people are racist because they don’t like the idea of their kid going to a school where they will be an absolute outlier demographically. Sometimes the benefits of a school outweigh any costs associated with that or you don’t have other choices, but it’s totally normal and fine to feel a least a little uncomfortable about the idea — regardless of what the majority of the population at the school looks like. If I were lower SES and AA (or any other demographic combination), I would probably want a school where my kid was able to associate with at least a significant number of peers that could share those characteristics even if a lot of his other peers don’t.

[/quote]

[quote]You are dismissing a school based on race though. I’m the PP with the 5th grader who is one of 3 white kids in a predominantly AA school. We moved from an all white wealthy suburb to DCPS. My child is having a great year and has tons of friends. Had we dismissed the school due to the low percentage of white rich kids, my dc would missed out on an overwhelmingly positive experience. Dismissing based on demographics is dehumanizing to the kids.[/quote]

+100[/quote]

Thing is, racist is a loaded term in our society. Is it biased? Yes. You are showing bias for your own race, at least to some extent (you are making judgments based on the color of kids at a school). I did the same at our local IB, but there were ALSO other reasons for that (its low performance and style of education). I'm impressed PP did not have any pause moving to the DCPS from a suburb, and while I wish more people would take this risk and probably learn the same, I will admit it was not one we took. Now, Banneker intrigues me and I would definitely take a look when the time comes. I can only hope my child is open minded enough by then to be interested in taking such a risk. I think painting everyone with too broad a brush on this board is problematic (both those claiming racism, and those claiming it's no big deal to be in the 1%). [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics