Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not have my kids apply to GDS because the focus on social justice seems hypocritical and over the top. Instead of just talking about it to the pampered elite, take the kids on a field trip to almost any DCPS school east of the park. Kids will get a visceral sense of how segregation is still alive in DC. I remember walking into Dunbar HS not too long ago as I had left something at the school at a weekend science fair. It felt incredibly jarring as all the kids were black. You didn't see a single white kid. Most of the teachers and admin milling around were black too. It was a sad feeling that we are pretty much still stuck with "separate but unequal". Ivy obsession is a privilege and talking about social justice while doing nothing about it just feels cheap to me. How about partnering with a DCPS school in Anacostia or somewhere else, raise funds for them, try to do some joint projects with their students, just do something real.

This already happens in abundance. As well as tutoring, mentoring, trash pick-ups and you name it.

No it’s not “in abundance.” It’s periodic at best, enough to give the kids something to put on their resumes and pontificate to others about. And then they go home to their lily white neighborhoods patting themselves on the back as they go.

While you all were arguing this point, GDS students spent the weekend rebuilding homes, cleaning up trash and serving meals in Puerto Rico.

Why not in West Virginia? I’m about as cynical as college admissions people are about these foreign volunteer trips. And that’s saying something, because my kids have been on these trips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As adults, what you have done and what impacts you have made? these are still kids. I admire them even if they start thinking these issues while others are playing games.

Agree. As a prof. at GW, I have come to realize that "fake it til you make it" is a valid and meaningful way to being kind and sensitive to the poor and to people who are otherwise different from you. While a lot of these kids (and me too!) may start doing service projects or advocating for social causes for the "wrong" reasons (for credit, for their CVs, annual reports at work), the large majority come out changed for the better and with some real knowledge of the way others live. These are kids. Give them credit for trying. In a lot of cases, I have realized they are doing much better than I am.

I disagree with you. Most times it is dangerous to think that you really know and understand true poverty and racism because you have dabbled in conversations about it in HS. Kids grow up to think they are progressive and enlightened and often have no clue that they are part of the problem. Privileged kids don't understand how much their family wealth has helped them in life. They often assume they have the cushy job and supervisor position simply because of how smart and hardworking they are. Then, without even realizing it, they hire people just like themselves, hang out with the same crowd and usually promote the same folks too. Yet, they constantly pat themselves on the back on how much they hate Trump and how they have deep empathy for the poor and disenfranchised.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As adults, what you have done and what impacts you have made? these are still kids. I admire them even if they start thinking these issues while others are playing games.

Agree. As a prof. at GW, I have come to realize that "fake it til you make it" is a valid and meaningful way to being kind and sensitive to the poor and to people who are otherwise different from you. While a lot of these kids (and me too!) may start doing service projects or advocating for social causes for the "wrong" reasons (for credit, for their CVs, annual reports at work), the large majority come out changed for the better and with some real knowledge of the way others live. These are kids. Give them credit for trying. In a lot of cases, I have realized they are doing much better than I am.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not have my kids apply to GDS because the focus on social justice seems hypocritical and over the top. Instead of just talking about it to the pampered elite, take the kids on a field trip to almost any DCPS school east of the park. Kids will get a visceral sense of how segregation is still alive in DC. I remember walking into Dunbar HS not too long ago as I had left something at the school at a weekend science fair. It felt incredibly jarring as all the kids were black. You didn't see a single white kid. Most of the teachers and admin milling around were black too. It was a sad feeling that we are pretty much still stuck with "separate but unequal". Ivy obsession is a privilege and talking about social justice while doing nothing about it just feels cheap to me. How about partnering with a DCPS school in Anacostia or somewhere else, raise funds for them, try to do some joint projects with their students, just do something real.

This already happens in abundance. As well as tutoring, mentoring, trash pick-ups and you name it.

No it’s not “in abundance.” It’s periodic at best, enough to give the kids something to put on their resumes and pontificate to others about. And then they go home to their lily white neighborhoods patting themselves on the back as they go.

While you all were arguing this point, GDS students spent the weekend rebuilding homes, cleaning up trash and serving meals in Puerto Rico.

Why not in West Virginia? I’m about as cynical as college admissions people are about these foreign volunteer trips. And that’s saying something, because my kids have been on these trips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As adults, what you have done and what impacts you have made? these are still kids. I admire them even if they start thinking these issues while others are playing games.

Agree. As a prof. at GW, I have come to realize that "fake it til you make it" is a valid and meaningful way to being kind and sensitive to the poor and to people who are otherwise different from you. While a lot of these kids (and me too!) may start doing service projects or advocating for social causes for the "wrong" reasons (for credit, for their CVs, annual reports at work), the large majority come out changed for the better and with some real knowledge of the way others live. These are kids. Give them credit for trying. In a lot of cases, I have realized they are doing much better than I am.