Reply to APS: Wow, the SB meeting was a DOOZY

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "APS: Wow, the SB meeting was a DOOZY"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The gist of the conversation is that Reid said that we need to be doing more to increase diversity across APS schools. The Center for American Progress is coming out with a report that apparently highlights APS as meeting the definition of a segregated school system. Tannia's point seemed to be that the minority students prefer being clustered together because it makes them feel more comfortable. She said that she didn't appreciate growing up as the token Latino in her own school district. She seemed to be saying that Reid, as a white male, doesn't have the right to say what is best for minority students. A lot of people think the segregation in Arlington is because 22207 prefers to stay white and upper-class- which is partly true, at least in some circles. But the other part of the equation that doesn't get talked about is that the Arlington Latino community does not want to integrate either. I have heard this opinion expressed privately by APS staff and prominent Arlington Dems, but Tannia last night kicked it out into the open for the first time. It was a weird exchange, but I'm glad that we can finally be open about the dynamics going on here. It is also why Arl Co politicians continue to concentrate affordable housing along the Pike and try to demonize CARD.[/quote]

Okay, [b]so here's what it boils down to and that nobody will to talk about openly: many of the parents in the Latino community in Arlington are undocumented.[/b] Their kids are natural-born citizens and the parents are in an incredibly precarious position right now. If they are forced out of their hiding holes, the idiot Young Republicans at Yorktown are going to call ICE on them (they threatened a student who dared to speak at a School Board meeting and admitted that she was undocumented). I can't exactly blame them for not wanting to subject their families and lives to be torn to shreds. But that doesn't mean Reid is committing micro-aggressions by talking about integration and by openly taking about the FACT that it's not a level playing field (this crap about income not mattering is some bullshit that people hide behind because it's too hard and uncomfortable to unwind the truth that the American Dream is just a that for most people--a dream that will never become reality because the upper classes are opportunity-hoarding). In a non-Donald Trump world, socioeconomic integration is a perfectly reasonable thing to strive for. Now, for the Latino community, it just might be dangerous. This is something I have become more mindful of and sensitive to over the last few months.

Also, didn't Tannia grow up in PG County? If she was the "token" Latina at her school, it wasn't because of school policy. It was because the demographics of PG County, at the time she was in school, did not include many Latinos. Different story now, but back in the 80's or 90's there was not a sizable Latino population living in PG. Also, isn't she married to a Republican? Sounds like some of the alt-right hogwash about unfair "quotas" and "affirmative action" has rubbed off on her. It's certainly not a progressive position to believe that it's a level playing field and that everyone has access to the same opportunity, regardless of ethnicity/race/class/gender/etc. [/quote]

So that's true issue number 1 and then these are the remainder:

Many Latino parents in Arlington county themselves are uneducated from lack of education in their home country. They may or may not be literate even in Spanish. The majority are not very likely not even aware or even have time to care about "diversity" or the need for it in schools.  They have no idea that white people are sitting around debating this or even know that they should care or be concerned.

The school their child attends is good to them because their comparison is their own education in their own home country.  The comparison is not a suburban elementary school in American like the whites use as a measure of comparison. This means the failing, high FARMS rate school looks very good to them and they do not even know they are supposed to be upset about it ro complain.

Lottery schools, focus schools, - if you can't speak and read English the chance you know or understand the concept of Lottery school or what it is or why it's important is not going to register.  What you want is to have your kid go to school and come home and the easiest way possible is best because you are likely working.

These are parents who have no idea why a school program like HB would be a good idea.  Or any kind of focus school that is not the traditional education. That's what the parents understand as school as as adults who have plenty else to struggle to figure out in a new country try to add understanding some non-standard education offering is not going to be one of them.

For comparison, I know plenty of recent immigrant parents who are highly educated (Masters degrees, PhDs) and they can find the public schools systems difficult to navigate at first.  These are people with professional jobs, good incomes etc. [/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