Reply to Inclusivity Behind Gated Doors: The Paradox of DC's Private Schools

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[quote=Anonymous]
We've spent nearly a decade at our local Title I DCPS, applying out for our oldest to attend private middle.

While we obviously feel our child has something to gain from private school, we also keenly feel how much she has to lose.

We are grateful to be in community with people from all walks of life, something that public schools offer uniquely.  Our DCPS is mostly working class, while we are professional class.  The experience of close friendships and relationships with families from a wide range of backgrounds has been so important for us and our children. We see the experience as essential to developing them as citizens.

(On one private school tour, a student told us about a time when their class spent a day emulating the life of "low-income people".  I understand the experience was supposed to cultivate empathy.  But we found it emblematic of our concerns. "Low-income people" are just regular people like you and me, not anthropological subjects.)

Why are we applying to private?  Our DCPS experience has been quite positive, but as other posters have noted, the teachers are not able to meet or challenge the most advanced students in class.  We’ve understood this and have addressed the gap by augmenting at home, but we realized that at middle school doing this would be more than we could handle. We had hoped that local privates would be more committed to SES diversity, but the application process seems designed to select for professional-class families.  We have told ourselves we’ll try private for MS and see how it goes. Others have told us that once you switch to private you don't switch back.  I guess we'll see.

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