Anonymous wrote:No moron, I live in DC and have for over 30 years. I sent my kids to DCPS and then switched to private school for exactly the same reasons as 13:14. I understand if Wilson is your choice (by default or otherwise), but there's no need to slam those of us who made different choices.

Anonymous wrote:13:14 echoed my sentiments exactly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't kid yourself. The academies are a panacea for white parents who worry about their kids being held back by poorer/black and latino kids. A big reason why this AA family moved their kids to private. Sure, my kids could have gotten into the academies (and probably done well there), but who wants to participate in a system like that?

These are my thoughts as well, can you imagine how isolating it would be for the non-whites in the academies.

Probably not as isolating as it would be for whites at Banneker though, so if you want to hate you should spread it around.

I think that you and the 18:20 poster misconstrued my concerns so let me explain. My concern with the segregation at Wilson is not about diversity it about a culture of low expectations and what it could do to the development of my daughter (who is black). Yes, a private will be likely be less diverse than Wilson but at a private the majority of the children that look like my daughter will not have the implicit label as under acheivers. Yes, I am sure that she would do well academically at Wilson, but what about her social development. She would be forced to navigate two worlds: one with her mostly white classmates in the academies and the other of mostly black kids who are left to flounder and who probably have misgivings about the student in the academies (and who can blame them).

Yes, Wilson issues are more socio-economic than race and I dont know how to fic it, but its not a world that I want to trust my daughter into. I had a similar experices when I went to high school in a major urban area in the US (fresh off the plane from a third world country) and I do not want to put my child through a similar experience.

That is my choice and I make no appologies for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. Most of these kids will be going on to Wilson. It'll be truly a great school in couple years. Right now, it is a very good choice. People on this board don't actually skew old enough to get good participation from Wilson Parents. DCUM's population is getting older and many of their kids are at JKLM and Deal--You'll see INCREASING #'s of Wilson posts as time goes on. My kids walk most days to Janney ES, but not on River Road--on Albemarle more in the center of the neighborhood.

I love your optimism. Unfortunately, I think every few years, parents think they'll be the ones to turn the system around. But, alas, as the critical years approach (sometimes its 4th grade, sometimes 6th), parents look around and notice that their neighbors and peers who once were "in this together" in DCPS have disappeared for private or suburbs. I remember older neighbors telling us when we first moved to DC that their group of parents were going to stick together and send their kids to DCPS middle school after our JKLM neighborhood school. But by 5th grade, all the parents were ditching out for private. Well, that was about 11 or 12 years ago. About 5-6 years ago, another set of neighbors expressed the same thing. Now that our kids are in that same JKLM elementary, the same thing is happening to us. Sadly, this is what happens over and over in DC. Personally, I hope you are right, but I don't see it going that way in our school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't kid yourself. The academies are a panacea for white parents who worry about their kids being held back by poorer/black and latino kids. A big reason why this AA family moved their kids to private. Sure, my kids could have gotten into the academies (and probably done well there), but who wants to participate in a system like that?

These are my thoughts as well, can you imagine how isolating it would be for the non-whites in the academies.

Probably not as isolating as it would be for whites at Banneker though, so if you want to hate you should spread it around.

I think that you and the 18:20 poster misconstrued my concerns so let me explain. My concern with the segregation at Wilson is not about diversity it about a culture of low expectations and what it could do to the development of my daughter (who is black). Yes, a private will be likely be less diverse than Wilson but at a private the majority of the children that look like my daughter will not have the implicit label as under acheivers. Yes, I am sure that she would do well academically at Wilson, but what about her social development. She would be forced to navigate two worlds: one with her mostly white classmates in the academies and the other of mostly black kids who are left to flounder and who probably have misgivings about the student in the academies (and who can blame them).

Yes, Wilson issues are more socio-economic than race and I dont know how to fic it, but its not a world that I want to trust my daughter into. I had a similar experices when I went to high school in a major urban area in the US (fresh off the plane from a third world country) and I do not want to put my child through a similar experience.

That is my choice and I make no appologies for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't kid yourself. The academies are a panacea for white parents who worry about their kids being held back by poorer/black and latino kids. A big reason why this AA family moved their kids to private. Sure, my kids could have gotten into the academies (and probably done well there), but who wants to participate in a system like that?

These are my thoughts as well, can you imagine how isolating it would be for the non-whites in the academies.

Probably not as isolating as it would be for whites at Banneker though, so if you want to hate you should spread it around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a lot of kids walking walking up from the AU Park area and its a great sign that so many kids in a DC neighborhood walk to school. I assume the younger ones are going to Janney and the older kids are going to Deal. it almost feels like a suburb with kids walking to school, hanging out etc. It's sad that after deal there is no viable option and thus most of these kids are going private or moving to MoCo.

None of my friends/family in the suburbs have kids who walk to school. Even in "walkable" burbs like Arlington/Bethesda--all school buses. I think walking to school is actually a pretty urban phenomenon these days

We live in Falls Church and our neighborhood elementary is one block away, so all the neighborhood kids walk to school every morning. They also have volunteer crossing guards at major street intersections in the morning when kids get to school. When DS turns five, he is absolutely walking to school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a lot of kids walking walking up from the AU Park area and its a great sign that so many kids in a DC neighborhood walk to school. I assume the younger ones are going to Janney and the older kids are going to Deal. it almost feels like a suburb with kids walking to school, hanging out etc. It's sad that after deal there is no viable option and thus most of these kids are going private or moving to MoCo.

None of my friends/family in the suburbs have kids who walk to school. Even in "walkable" burbs like Arlington/Bethesda--all school buses. I think walking to school is actually a pretty urban phenomenon these days

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Anonymous wrote:So sick of the same old tired conversation.....None of it matters once you are out of high school. No one will care if you attended Wilson or Walls or St Albans...It really doesn't matter what college you attend....What matters MOST is how well a child performs at their school and how well that child applies their knowledge to make a viable and bright future for themselves.....

Actually, it can matter, depending on where you grow up and the kind of high school you attend. Elite private high schools often have alumni connections as strong as, if not stronger than, college ones.

Whatever. Have the kid do a post graduate year at Choate. People do it. Wilson and Deal are becoming increasingly in bounds and increasingly white. Deal's incoming 6th grade this year is 75% white. That number is just going to increase. The naysayers on here don't have kids that are at the age to go there. Once your kids get older, you visit, tour, etc., go there--you'll see how good the school actually is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sick of the same old tired conversation.....None of it matters once you are out of high school. No one will care if you attended Wilson or Walls or St Albans...It really doesn't matter what college you attend....What matters MOST is how well a child performs at their school and how well that child applies their knowledge to make a viable and bright future for themselves.....

Actually, it can matter, depending on where you grow up and the kind of high school you attend. Elite private high schools often have alumni connections as strong as, if not stronger than, college ones.

Anonymous wrote:So sick of the same old tired conversation.....None of it matters once you are out of high school. No one will care if you attended Wilson or Walls or St Albans...It really doesn't matter what college you attend....What matters MOST is how well a child performs at their school and how well that child applies their knowledge to make a viable and bright future for themselves.....