Reply to Do you stay friends with the families that bail for the suburbs

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Do you stay friends with the families that bail for the suburbs "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I find that I stay to connected to parents who move to the burbs (and WotP) IF the families were close to us during their DC years, IF they make an effort to keep up with us, and IF they don't subject us to emotional put-downs us for staying EotP.

In these relationships, from time to find I find myself politely challenging hints that newly-minted little suburbanites are getting a vastly superior education to ours. For example, I point out that we're realized how lucky we are to live a 2-minute walk from an excellent public library along with a 3-minute walk from the public middle school our children will attend.  I also like to point out that my children's upper grades academic elementary school classes are generally taught by two teachers (one paid for by the PTA) in rooms with no more than 22 or 23 kids.  I hear reports, particularly from MoCo, of a single teacher contending with up to 30 kids in the public elementary schools these families fled to, including in high-octane GT programs.

On a bright note, when I challenge, the reception I usually get is positive, along the lines of "Good for you for staying in the City despite the extra work involved to ensure that your kids get a great education." Fair enough, one surely has to work harder to make that happen in DC public schools than in those in tony suburbs.  No point in being thinned-skinned when this is pointed out, or in failing to push back a little to point out that the big picture can be terrific for one's older DCPS student.
[/quote]

You sound insecure. Who cares...do the best for your family and don’t spend so much time arguing about it. [/quote]

Not the poster you're responding to. Call PPs names much?

It's good to push back when smug + poorly informed suburbanites run down the highest-performing public schools here. I've been there many times over the years.

Parents who bail from cultural rich historic neighborhoods in the District for blah suburbs, then turn around and slam those who stayed for neglecting their children are definitely insecure...[/quote]

Outside of DCUM, who does this?  Seriously have you ever had an [b]in person conversation with someone where they disparaged your school?[/b]  Also: again as a DC native stop with mine is better than yours. Everyone is just doing the best they can. Mocking people for where they live is just sad. [/quote]

I've have a good number of such conversations in our neighborhood on Capitol Hill over the years, but not with parents who bailed for the burbs. The parents who disparage our DCPS in conversation are generally those who moved on from DCPS to independent schools locally. They need to justify their substantial outlay for tuition. Believing the worst of the local DCPS (which can take some work where JKLM, Brent, Maury etc. are concerned in 2019) helps them do this. [/quote]

Yeah, I've had lots of conversations with people dumping on DCPS, either justifying their move to the 'burbs or the $40K in tuition they are shelling out per kid.  It can be a little awkward, but since I think that our DCPS is serving our child well, I'm not shy about piping up and letting them know that we've been very happy.  But yes, there are people who are insecure about their choice to leave DC for another school, and aren't content to just let it be about making the best choice for their family, but have to put down the alternatives and imply that they value their children's education and that parents who send their kids to public school don't.  We have friends who have kids in all kinds of different schools, but none with that kind of attitude.

As to the staying friends, if it was my kid's friends, it would depend on how far away they lived and whether they were willing to make the effort, too.  We're willing to spend the time to maintain her friendships, but it has to be reciprocal and reasonable. And if they were just acquaintances, then I'd just let it go.  [/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