Reply to Which public school system is best? (Arlington, fairfax, DC, MD)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't live in Arlington, but I am a former civil rights attorney.  I can give you some context on the confederate names in the county and why they aren't changed even though the county has a lot of people that are from the north and it is very liberal.

When residents or the black community objects to confederate names or symbols today, it is a proxy protest.  They aren't so concerned with the names, but to current conditions that they feel aren't fair.  Attacking names and symbols brings these issues more upfront into the white communities and focuses the issues of racism and inequality to the front page.  They really want better services and opportunities.

In places like Arlington, the black population isn't really oppressed like other counties and the government does more to address their needs than less progressive areas in the state.

So there isn't a need to attack symbols as a sympton of government attitudes and actions towards the black community.  The black community in places like this would rather spend money on people that need it vs. re-naming a bunch of buildings and streets.

If the black community really had a legitimate grievance, the Arlington government would do something about it.  If the black community wanted the names changed, they would do it.  But the costs of new maps, signs, stationary, and the disruption caused to residents and alumni just isn't worth it too them.

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I'm amazed at how people in Arlington can be so persuaded of their own liberal tendencies when schools in North Arlington are the whitest in the entire DC region, and Wakefield and some of its feeder schools have some of the highest concentrations of low-income, black and Hispanic residents in the area.   Maybe that's just a reflection of housing costs and transportation routes, but you might think that either the schools would be more integrated or people wouldn't use terms like "progressive" so freely to describe themselves.   [/quote]

WTF?  W-L has a 59% minority majority.  how is that white?  Our kids highly regarded elem school is only 55% white and it is one of the top schools nationally.[/quote]

I'm not talking about W-L or ASF.  Look at Jamestown, McKinley, Nottingham, Taylor, Tuckahoe and Williamsburg compared to schools like Carlin Springs, Hoffman-Boston, Randolph, Kenmore and Wakefield.  The differences are quite stark.  I understand that people don't want their kids bussed long distances, but Arlington is also a fairly small county.  If a civil-rights plaintiff were going to challenge de facto segregation in area schools, APS would be as good a local target as any.  I'm not advocating that anyone sue APS - I just think it's kind of jarring that terms like "progressive" get used to describe Arlington, when the county seems quite conservative when it comes to things like school boundaries.  Maybe the term is more of of a reflection of things like support for gay marriage and environmental issues than how the local schools are operated.       [/quote]

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