Anonymous wrote:We've been in DC public schools in NW since PreK4. We're at Deal this year, leaving for the burbs for more fertile ground for challenging core academics, instrumental music and an Asian language next year. But we're keeping our DC house of 20 years with help from relatives. Most of our bilingual Asian neighborhood pals have already bailed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would you know? Are you Asian? Are you fluent in an Asian language?

PP pointed out that Asians in DC public middle and high schools are mostly forced to study Spanish, Latin or beginning Chinese (even if they're fluent). That doesn't exactly sound like rolling out the welcome mat to me. Iffy STEM and unserious music instruction can't help either.

In the burbs, students who can test out of languages generally don't have to study them in schools at all. DC wouldn't dream of giving bilingual/biliterate families that kind of recognition or flexibility. Not equitable.

You are talking about two different things as though they are the same thing.

The first is whether Asian families like the academics at DC public schools enough. The answer is often no, but that's also true for many families of all races. Lots of white, black, Hispanic families move to the suburbs or pay for private due to dissatisfaction with DC public schools. Agree with the PP who noted that perhaps fewer Asian families start out in DC so there might not be an exodus at school age like there are for other families. Maybe that's because there are larger Asian communities in the suburbs and people gravitate towards being closer to family when they have kids, I don't know? But this is not an issue unique to Asian families -- all DC families have to decide for themselves if the school district meets their needs. Lots of families of all races decide it doesn't, not just Asian families.

But the second thing you are talking about is feeling welcomed in the community. I personally think this issue of what languages are taught is a bit of a red herring here. The points other posters have made about how DCPS totally ignores Asians when talking about inclusivity and diversity is a much bigger deal. But the reason DCPS doesn't offer Chinese or other Asian languages at a younger age or at a higher level is that demand is not high enough, pure and simple. You can't offer classes if not enough kids will take them. Spanish is the most commonly-offered language in DCPS and that's as it should be, it's the most spoken language in the US after English and is also widely spoken by many people in the DMV. Mandarin is not spoken that widely here. Yes, many immigrants speak it but many also don't! I have many many 2nd gen friends from China and Taiwan and none of them speak it. Their parents do but are often not invested in their grandkids speaking it. We do have some friends at Yu Ying but even they acknowledge that they don't mind that much that the immersion aspects of YY aren't that good.

Meanwhile, my friends from Spanish backgrounds all speak it to some degree and very much want their kids to speak it. It's a much bigger thing for them. There is huge demand for Spanish immersion in DC, as evidenced by the long waitlists at many of the immersion schools for PK and K.

I don't think the fact that DCPS doesn't offer many Asian languages from a young age is indicative of much. There just isn't the demand. There is more demand in the suburbs where Asian communities make up a huge percentage of school populations, of course there is more demand and it makes sense they'd offer more of those languages. But I mean most DC high schools don't offer AP calculus. I think that's a much bigger issue than the fact that you can't take an advanced Chinese course in 8th grade, and most of my friends from Chinese/Taiwanese backgrounds would agree.

Does anybody know of a DCPS that has more than 1% Asian enrollment? More than one percent that speak a language other than English, Spanish, or Amharic?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would you know? Are you Asian? Are you fluent in an Asian language?

PP pointed out that Asians in DC public middle and high schools are mostly forced to study Spanish, Latin or beginning Chinese (even if they're fluent). That doesn't exactly sound like rolling out the welcome mat to me. Iffy STEM and unserious music instruction can't help either.

In the burbs, students who can test out of languages generally don't have to study them in schools at all. DC wouldn't dream of giving bilingual/biliterate families that kind of recognition or flexibility. Not equitable.

You are talking about two different things as though they are the same thing.

The first is whether Asian families like the academics at DC public schools enough. The answer is often no, but that's also true for many families of all races. Lots of white, black, Hispanic families move to the suburbs or pay for private due to dissatisfaction with DC public schools. Agree with the PP who noted that perhaps fewer Asian families start out in DC so there might not be an exodus at school age like there are for other families. Maybe that's because there are larger Asian communities in the suburbs and people gravitate towards being closer to family when they have kids, I don't know? But this is not an issue unique to Asian families -- all DC families have to decide for themselves if the school district meets their needs. Lots of families of all races decide it doesn't, not just Asian families.

But the second thing you are talking about is feeling welcomed in the community. I personally think this issue of what languages are taught is a bit of a red herring here. The points other posters have made about how DCPS totally ignores Asians when talking about inclusivity and diversity is a much bigger deal. But the reason DCPS doesn't offer Chinese or other Asian languages at a younger age or at a higher level is that demand is not high enough, pure and simple. You can't offer classes if not enough kids will take them. Spanish is the most commonly-offered language in DCPS and that's as it should be, it's the most spoken language in the US after English and is also widely spoken by many people in the DMV. Mandarin is not spoken that widely here. Yes, many immigrants speak it but many also don't! I have many many 2nd gen friends from China and Taiwan and none of them speak it. Their parents do but are often not invested in their grandkids speaking it. We do have some friends at Yu Ying but even they acknowledge that they don't mind that much that the immersion aspects of YY aren't that good.

Meanwhile, my friends from Spanish backgrounds all speak it to some degree and very much want their kids to speak it. It's a much bigger thing for them. There is huge demand for Spanish immersion in DC, as evidenced by the long waitlists at many of the immersion schools for PK and K.

I don't think the fact that DCPS doesn't offer many Asian languages from a young age is indicative of much. There just isn't the demand. There is more demand in the suburbs where Asian communities make up a huge percentage of school populations, of course there is more demand and it makes sense they'd offer more of those languages. But I mean most DC high schools don't offer AP calculus. I think that's a much bigger issue than the fact that you can't take an advanced Chinese course in 8th grade, and most of my friends from Chinese/Taiwanese backgrounds would agree.

Anonymous wrote:What would you know? Are you Asian? Are you fluent in an Asian language?

PP pointed out that Asians in DC public middle and high schools are mostly forced to study Spanish, Latin or beginning Chinese (even if they're fluent). That doesn't exactly sound like rolling out the welcome mat to me. Iffy STEM and unserious music instruction can't help either.

In the burbs, students who can test out of languages generally don't have to study them in schools at all. DC wouldn't dream of giving bilingual/biliterate families that kind of recognition or flexibility. Not equitable.

Anonymous wrote:Former Soviet Union immigrants are on a par with Asians in achievement in instrumental music. Like Asians, they gravitate to suburban schools with strong math and chess teams and orchestras and bands.

My Asian immigrant parents and grandparents could have absolutely cared less if my siblings and I, and our children, attend public schools with low-income AAs and Latinos. They had far too many of their own problems in East Asia, wars, dictatorship, ancestral lands confiscated, famine etc. Privately, I don't care much myself (and I worked as a Dem Congressional staffer for years). Good white liberals don't really get East Asian immigrants.

Anonymous wrote:Asian families prioritize high-performing schools over diverse schools everywhere they live in this country. The fact that few DCPS and DCPCS middle and high schools can attract any should be a wake-up call to all stakeholders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asian families prioritize high-performing schools over diverse schools everywhere they live in this country. The fact that few DCPS and DCPCS middle and high schools can attract any should be a wake-up call to all stakeholders.

no stereotyping or anything.

. Are you a first or 2nd gen Asian immigrant? If not, pipe down. What do you know about the stereotyping of Asians in this country. Racism bothers us little. As an immigrant group, we’re more focused on academic achievement than any other. DC public schools are too political for almost all is us past elementary in Upper NW and Cap Hill. The rigor, challenge and respect for Asian cultures and languages just isn’t there. Even BASIS and Walls struggle to attract Asian families.

Can you expound on this? It's continually frustrating that all DE&I efforts seem to focus on AAs and gay people.

I'll give you an example. There's no DC public MS or HS that teaches Asian languages to an advanced level. Almost every UMC friendly option pushes Spanish, Latin or beginning Chinese on your kid. Wait a minute, you say, what about YuYing and DCI? The truth is that their Mandarin programs are weak to the point of being laughable. There are essentially no native speakers and very few parents supplement for Chinese seriously, so standards for speaking are abysmal. At BASIS, students can't even study Chinese until 8th grade and native speakers of tough Asian languages are forced to choose between studying a new language from 8th grade or taking beginning Chinese, even if they're already fluent (all but ensuring that native speakers will wind up weak in both the new language and Chinese, which requires the learning of 3000+ characters for basic literacy).

In the DC burbs, middle schools and high schools celebrate and support Asian immigrants who excel at learning their own languages, or at least leave them alone to get on with it. There are schools in Fairfax teaching half a dozen Asian languages to an advanced level, a year or two past AP study. In DC public schools, we're just not very welcome past elementary, explaining why there are so few of us.

You think Asians aren't in DCPS because they don't offer Asian languages? Wouldn't it make more sense that Asian languages aren't taught because the Asian population in DC is far lower than in Fairfax? Your logic seems backward to me. Look at the population of DC. I'm pretty sure young Asian people aren't leaving in droves when they have kids. It's more that there are less to begin with. Tons of white people leave DC too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asian families prioritize high-performing schools over diverse schools everywhere they live in this country. The fact that few DCPS and DCPCS middle and high schools can attract any should be a wake-up call to all stakeholders.

no stereotyping or anything.

. Are you a first or 2nd gen Asian immigrant? If not, pipe down. What do you know about the stereotyping of Asians in this country. Racism bothers us little. As an immigrant group, we’re more focused on academic achievement than any other. DC public schools are too political for almost all is us past elementary in Upper NW and Cap Hill. The rigor, challenge and respect for Asian cultures and languages just isn’t there. Even BASIS and Walls struggle to attract Asian families.

Can you expound on this? It's continually frustrating that all DE&I efforts seem to focus on AAs and gay people.

I'll give you an example. There's no DC public MS or HS that teaches Asian languages to an advanced level. Almost every UMC friendly option pushes Spanish, Latin or beginning Chinese on your kid. Wait a minute, you say, what about YuYing and DCI? The truth is that their Mandarin programs are weak to the point of being laughable. There are essentially no native speakers and very few parents supplement for Chinese seriously, so standards for speaking are abysmal. At BASIS, students can't even study Chinese until 8th grade and native speakers of tough Asian languages are forced to choose between studying a new language from 8th grade or taking beginning Chinese, even if they're already fluent (all but ensuring that native speakers will wind up weak in both the new language and Chinese, which requires the learning of 3000+ characters for basic literacy).

In the DC burbs, middle schools and high schools celebrate and support Asian immigrants who excel at learning their own languages, or at least leave them alone to get on with it. There are schools in Fairfax teaching half a dozen Asian languages to an advanced level, a year or two past AP study. In DC public schools, we're just not very welcome past elementary, explaining why there are so few of us.