Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:there is a remarkable amount of vitriol on this thread considering we're talking about elementary school. who knew where kids attend second grade could incite so such anger? everyone is so angry.

I actually think there are just a couple of angry, bitter posters—everyone else is flummoxed at their angry responses.

Speak for yourself. This has been an interesting thread.

I hear the sound of inconvenient truths touching a nerve with the magical thinking crowd.

Anonymous wrote:there is a remarkable amount of vitriol on this thread considering we're talking about elementary school. who knew where kids attend second grade could incite so such anger? everyone is so angry.

I actually think there are just a couple of angry, bitter posters—everyone else is flummoxed at their angry responses.

there is a remarkable amount of vitriol on this thread considering we're talking about elementary school. who knew where kids attend second grade could incite so such anger? everyone is so angry.

YY and DCI, what a recipe for mediocrity.

More than 90% of the parents simply can't afford JKLM, Georgetown, Dupont for Ross, Capitol Hill for Brent or Maury, so they try to convince you that they're eager for the kids to speak Mandarin. Mostly crappy Mandarin but they can't hear it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tyranny of low expectations guides your thinking, PP. You've set up a false dichotomy - a binary choice between a program which wholeheartedly rejects best practices in immersion instruction and failing in-boundary school. Why not aim higher, at least in your thinking about options, including those you can work to create?

We left YY because admins clearly didn't have a clue about what they were doing with "immersion," among other things. Yes, it was a cozy, eye-pleasing, pleasantly diverse school. But the Chinese wasn't being taught well, and the rest of the program was merely passable.

We're New Yorkers, magnet high school grads, used to better quality public school offerings. We bailed for a strong in-boundary DCPS EotP (that's right), home schooling in Chinese (one of us is a native speaker), and MoCo heritage school where immersion really works.

We don't hate YY, we just weren't impressed.

I'm the PP you're referencing. I didn't set up a false dichotomy. This is literally the choice facing many DC students--an imperfect immersion that you wish had different goals, and failing IB schools. And for many poor students especially--who constitute the majority of students in DC public schools--it's a ticket to better schools, a more motivated peer group, and gaining some bilingual proficiency in the process. Even if you keep insisting they speak Mandarin like 4 or 5yos (if not you, some other YY hater who has stated this countless times), these students likely have a far brighter future at YY than at the alternative.

No point in arguing with this attitude. What can one say in response but very bright future, absolutely. We moved to Capitol Hill from further up in NE to access a strong DCPS. We also enrolled in a strong Saturday program for immigrants and ABCs in Rockville (too much homework but the arrangement works). We regret bothering with YY while the head was a lady who with no real background in Chinese language or culture. I'm guessing that will change eventually.

Sorry, I can't be blamed for YY hate and the observation that kid speak like 4 or 5 yos.

PP. Perhaps you feel that immersion schools are "wasted" on these kids. I hear your frustration, and agree that native language preference would be great to implement in more schools. But in a city like DC, there will always be a tension between best practices for immersion education, and the sort of moral and practical imperative to serve the broader population of schoolchildren in DC. I'm not sure these schools have found the right balance. But I wouldn't want them to go away completely. And it doesn't look like they will, given Todd's push (if it comes to fruition; big 'if') to create eight new immersion schools across the city:

https://www.petworthnews.org/blog/cm-corner-dual-language-schools

Sorry, meant native "speaker" preference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tyranny of low expectations guides your thinking, PP. You've set up a false dichotomy - a binary choice between a program which wholeheartedly rejects best practices in immersion instruction and failing in-boundary school. Why not aim higher, at least in your thinking about options, including those you can work to create?

We left YY because admins clearly didn't have a clue about what they were doing with "immersion," among other things. Yes, it was a cozy, eye-pleasing, pleasantly diverse school. But the Chinese wasn't being taught well, and the rest of the program was merely passable.

We're New Yorkers, magnet high school grads, used to better quality public school offerings. We bailed for a strong in-boundary DCPS EotP (that's right), home schooling in Chinese (one of us is a native speaker), and MoCo heritage school where immersion really works.

We don't hate YY, we just weren't impressed.

I'm the PP you're referencing. I didn't set up a false dichotomy. This is literally the choice facing many DC students--an imperfect immersion that you wish had different goals, and failing IB schools. And for many poor students especially--who constitute the majority of students in DC public schools--it's a ticket to better schools, a more motivated peer group, and gaining some bilingual proficiency in the process. Even if you keep insisting they speak Mandarin like 4 or 5yos (if not you, some other YY hater who has stated this countless times), these students likely have a far brighter future at YY than at the alternative.

No point in arguing with this attitude. What can one say in response but very bright future, absolutely. We moved to Capitol Hill from further up in NE to access a strong DCPS. We also enrolled in a strong Saturday program for immigrants and ABCs in Rockville (too much homework but the arrangement works). We regret bothering with YY while the head was a lady who with no real background in Chinese language or culture. I'm guessing that will change eventually.

Sorry, I can't be blamed for YY hate and the observation that kid speak like 4 or 5 yos.

PP. Perhaps you feel that immersion schools are "wasted" on these kids. I hear your frustration, and agree that native language preference would be great to implement in more schools. But in a city like DC, there will always be a tension between best practices for immersion education, and the sort of moral and practical imperative to serve the broader population of schoolchildren in DC. I'm not sure these schools have found the right balance. But I wouldn't want them to go away completely. And it doesn't look like they will, given Todd's push (if it comes to fruition; big 'if') to create eight new immersion schools across the city:

https://www.petworthnews.org/blog/cm-corner-dual-language-schools

My son is in a spanish school and LOVES IT!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tyranny of low expectations guides your thinking, PP. You've set up a false dichotomy - a binary choice between a program which wholeheartedly rejects best practices in immersion instruction and failing in-boundary school. Why not aim higher, at least in your thinking about options, including those you can work to create?

We left YY because admins clearly didn't have a clue about what they were doing with "immersion," among other things. Yes, it was a cozy, eye-pleasing, pleasantly diverse school. But the Chinese wasn't being taught well, and the rest of the program was merely passable.

We're New Yorkers, magnet high school grads, used to better quality public school offerings. We bailed for a strong in-boundary DCPS EotP (that's right), home schooling in Chinese (one of us is a native speaker), and MoCo heritage school where immersion really works.

We don't hate YY, we just weren't impressed.

I'm the PP you're referencing. I didn't set up a false dichotomy. This is literally the choice facing many DC students--an imperfect immersion that you wish had different goals, and failing IB schools. And for many poor students especially--who constitute the majority of students in DC public schools--it's a ticket to better schools, a more motivated peer group, and gaining some bilingual proficiency in the process. Even if you keep insisting they speak Mandarin like 4 or 5yos (if not you, some other YY hater who has stated this countless times), these students likely have a far brighter future at YY than at the alternative.

No point in arguing with this attitude. What can one say in response but very bright future, absolutely. We moved to Capitol Hill from further up in NE to access a strong DCPS. We also enrolled in a strong Saturday program for immigrants and ABCs in Rockville (too much homework but the arrangement works). We regret bothering with YY while the head was a lady who with no real background in Chinese language or culture. I'm guessing that will change eventually.

Sorry, I can't be blamed for YY hate and the observation that kid speak like 4 or 5 yos.

I think what is being debated here is whether immersion schools are really meant to serve the ELL, language dominant population - which is often also at risk, low income, and needs services? No one has really mentioned that. OR is the immersion school meant to serve the English dominant family who wants their child to learn the foreign language, for whatever reason?

Schools do seem to have different targets in terms of their missions, in this regard. Ideally the schools will serve both groups, but in practice, some slant toward one or the other. This slant of course isn't entirely in the school's control - thanks in part to the restrictions in the lottery. I know LAMB intends to serve the vulnerable ELL population, for instance, but that is not the population which is dominating the applications. A school like Stokes appears to me to have had a different mission from the start, which may also be fine. The thing that is upsetting is that the Hispanic immigrants in DC do seem to be left out of most of the conversations here, as though DC were merely black and white.

all DCUM threads, no matter how innocuous the topic, eventually crater over people's anxieties over race, money or schools or all of the above. never fails.

Anonymous wrote:The tyranny of low expectations guides your thinking, PP. You've set up a false dichotomy - a binary choice between a program which wholeheartedly rejects best practices in immersion instruction and failing in-boundary school. Why not aim higher, at least in your thinking about options, including those you can work to create?

We left YY because admins clearly didn't have a clue about what they were doing with "immersion," among other things. Yes, it was a cozy, eye-pleasing, pleasantly diverse school. But the Chinese wasn't being taught well, and the rest of the program was merely passable.

We're New Yorkers, magnet high school grads, used to better quality public school offerings. We bailed for a strong in-boundary DCPS EotP (that's right), home schooling in Chinese (one of us is a native speaker), and MoCo heritage school where immersion really works.

We don't hate YY, we just weren't impressed.

I'm the PP you're referencing. I didn't set up a false dichotomy. This is literally the choice facing many DC students--an imperfect immersion that you wish had different goals, and failing IB schools. And for many poor students especially--who constitute the majority of students in DC public schools--it's a ticket to better schools, a more motivated peer group, and gaining some bilingual proficiency in the process. Even if you keep insisting they speak Mandarin like 4 or 5yos (if not you, some other YY hater who has stated this countless times), these students likely have a far brighter future at YY than at the alternative.

Estos americanos estan como cabras.

The tyranny of low expectations guides your thinking, PP. You've set up a false dichotomy - a binary choice between a program which wholeheartedly rejects best practices in immersion instruction and failing in-boundary school. Why not aim higher, at least in your thinking about options, including those you can work to create?

We left YY because admins clearly didn't have a clue about what they were doing with "immersion," among other things. Yes, it was a cozy, eye-pleasing, pleasantly diverse school. But the Chinese wasn't being taught well, and the rest of the program was merely passable.

We're New Yorkers, magnet high school grads, used to better quality public school offerings. We bailed for a strong in-boundary DCPS EotP (that's right), home schooling in Chinese (one of us is a native speaker), and MoCo heritage school where immersion really works.

We don't hate YY, we just weren't impressed.

This thread is going off their rails. No one is “exploiting” native speakers. My kid is at an immersion and it’s clear they need and want English speaking kids to teach English to the native speakers in PK. By K, all the kids are generally speaking English to each other. One kid came in late to K and didn’t speak English at all the other Spanish dominant kids still speak English to her. And the school sure loves to ask for money from the UMC families, maybe we are the ones being exploited.