Reply to Hardy middle school .... question about the student racial make-up.

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Reply to "Hardy middle school .... question about the student racial make-up."

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The point PP was making was that parents should be given a choice where language instruction goes in a country with one national language, English. In Canada, the government reasonably requires almost all the kids to study French in government schools.

If you want Spanish for your children in public school all the way up, fantastic! Go for it! If you prefer that your children focus on learning a different language also taught at the AP and International Baccalaureate levels, just as good!

WotP, in the JKLM schools and at Deal, Hardy and Wilson, parents are given a choice of language, or no language in elementary school. EotP, DCPS generally forces all the kids to study a single language, usually Spanish, all the way from PreS3.

One city, two sets of rules.

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NP, there's a kernel of truth to this argument.

Our IB MS, Stuart Hobson, doesn't offer nearly the challenge or flexibility that Hardy and Deal do.  We've checked into both for our 4th grader and can't see ourselves enrolling at SH.  Waaay too much paternalism in the mix in that building.

From where I sit, DCPS intransigence is an SES and geography issue, not a race issue.  They can't get away with it WotP like they can EotP.  Anybody who's enrolled in schools in both swathes of the city probably know what I'm talking about.

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There is a fundamental difference between academic differentiation ("challenge and flexibility") and free choice of curriculum (e.g. refusing instruction in a foreign language that is an essential part of American culture). It's really odd how these things get conflated by some people.[/quote]

The "Spanish" taught in our JKLM elem is one semester and is little more than a joke.  The school is excellent overall, but it's not really much real language instruction.  [b]How many schools across the whole country, even in affluent areas really offer such a broad range of languages even in high school, let alone middle school.  
[/b]
P.S. even in Montgomery County, the highest % of Asian heritage kids is around 12%, so Hardy's #s are pretty up there.  The school's overall #s are going to also be very different next year and year after - the growing #s from the feeder schools and Eaton switch over are a real change at a small school.
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Fair point, but not offering a range of languages isn't a problem if the classes on offer are voluntary.  DCPS recently made them mandatory all the way from preschool to 8th grade, which I consider nanny state BS.

In MoCo, public school students are no longer required to take language classes at any stage. What they're required to do is pass a proficiency test in a language taught at AP to earn a HS diploma. Smart, flexible, fair policy DCPS could learn from. [/quote]

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