Anonymous wrote:I'm of two minds on these sorts of things. On the one hand, our ES has Spanish speaking coffees once a month and I think they have really helped a lot of those parents get more involved in the school. On the other hand, the school has parents who speak so many other languages - there are something like 60 different languages spoken at homes of the kids in the school and you don't see Urdu speaking coffees or Swahili speaking coffees, etc...and part of the reason is because those people have had to learn English since moving here whereas the Spanish speakers haven't and I find that frustrating.

Anonymous wrote:"If there were a large population of Vietnamese speaking filies who expressed Amex and desire for such a group more power to them."

What??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm of two minds on these sorts of things. On the one hand, our ES has Spanish speaking coffees once a month and I think they have really helped a lot of those parents get more involved in the school. On the other hand, the school has parents who speak so many other languages - there are something like 60 different languages spoken at homes of the kids in the school and you don't see Urdu speaking coffees or Swahili speaking coffees, etc...and part of the reason is because those people have had to learn English since moving here whereas the Spanish speakers haven't and I find that frustrating.

Spanish-speaking students represent 60% of the ESOL population in MCPS. Likely there are not enough Urdu or Swahili-speaking families to generate an interest at your school.

Anonymous wrote:I'm of two minds on these sorts of things. On the one hand, our ES has Spanish speaking coffees once a month and I think they have really helped a lot of those parents get more involved in the school. On the other hand, the school has parents who speak so many other languages - there are something like 60 different languages spoken at homes of the kids in the school and you don't see Urdu speaking coffees or Swahili speaking coffees, etc...and part of the reason is because those people have had to learn English since moving here whereas the Spanish speakers haven't and I find that frustrating.

Anonymous wrote:I'm of two minds on these sorts of things. On the one hand, our ES has Spanish speaking coffees once a month and I think they have really helped a lot of those parents get more involved in the school. On the other hand, the school has parents who speak so many other languages - there are something like 60 different languages spoken at homes of the kids in the school and you don't see Urdu speaking coffees or Swahili speaking coffees, etc...and part of the reason is because those people have had to learn English since moving here whereas the Spanish speakers haven't and I find that frustrating.

Anonymous wrote:

I am the pp with whom u are talking. For 2 days I have been trying to say I DONT think u are over sensitive.
As a Black woman I would be hard pressed to say that!!
I hate typing on this phone. Thanks for the talk, best I have ever had on DCUM!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am the pp to whom you are responding. Thank you for your thoughtful response. I was saying you were being overly sensitive, sorry that is how it came off. Again, as an AA woman I know what it is like to have assumptions made about you.
However, I must say that I see things differently. Personally, I don't think that having the group is an all call for all Hispanic people, only the ones interested in what the group is offering. Though you made a good point about the name -- perhaps there can be a better name.
Perhaps it also needs to be clearer what exactly the purpose is. NO, not all Hispanic folk are the same, but that does not mean that those folk who have needs to be met, cannot have a group that meets their specific needs.
I know at our ES, the coffees that were held on Friday seemed to be well-attended and well received. In addition, a lot of those same families are also an active part of the broader school community. I say this because you see them involved at lot at the different activities - the principal calling some of them out along with other folks who are involved -- know what I mean?
Is your issue a broader one in that you don't believe in having groups that are focused on folk who have a commanlity of sexual orientation, ethnicity and/or race?
Please note that I did not say EXCLUSIVE , that is a different thing and meaning.
I am a black woman who attended an HBCU(Historically Black College or University) so i don't have a problem with that at all.
At some point, we have to address our specific needs and not worry about what anyone else thinks.
I cannot always worry that a black person getting welfare means someone thinks that I am too.
If our school had a large Nigerian community and they had a group, I would not worry that folks think that I am Nigerian and English is not my native tongue.

I'll freely admit that I'm most likely overly sensitive! My husband would probably agree. I think we all come at situations from our own experiences and are sensitive based on those experiences. *I* probably assume that people make assumptions about my kids based on their last name/skin color/hair/etc. And, to be honest, sometimes stereotypes do have a little truth to them - my kids do love soccer!

I do see your point about not worrying about what people think and that is valid.

I think you're right that maybe I take issue with groups that are focused on race/ethnicity in general. They seem (to me) to try to leave people out or differentiate amongst people. I am not a particularly religious person either. Mostly because I think religion tends to separate people, rather than bring people together. (That is a whole other topic!)

We're all parents at the same school - White/AA/Asian/Hispanic. We all mostly want the same things for our kids. We can and do work well together, without dividing parents up into groups based on something arbitrary (IMO) such as race. I also come to this as someone who is mixed race which definitely skews my perspective. I do find race to be somewhat arbitrary. Just as there is so much diversity within the black community, that is the case for all groups. My Pakistani friend will swear up and down that she has nothing, NOTHING in common with an Indian person - different religion, different language, and yet they are all grouped together as 'South Asian'. It seems almost disrespectful to ignore their differences.

Thank you for the respectful discussion! I do talk about race often with my family/friends and I think it would be beneficial if more people could talk honestly/respectfully about how they feel.

Anonymous wrote:
I am the pp to whom you are responding. Thank you for your thoughtful response. I was saying you were being overly sensitive, sorry that is how it came off. Again, as an AA woman I know what it is like to have assumptions made about you.
However, I must say that I see things differently. Personally, I don't think that having the group is an all call for all Hispanic people, only the ones interested in what the group is offering. Though you made a good point about the name -- perhaps there can be a better name.
Perhaps it also needs to be clearer what exactly the purpose is. NO, not all Hispanic folk are the same, but that does not mean that those folk who have needs to be met, cannot have a group that meets their specific needs.
I know at our ES, the coffees that were held on Friday seemed to be well-attended and well received. In addition, a lot of those same families are also an active part of the broader school community. I say this because you see them involved at lot at the different activities - the principal calling some of them out along with other folks who are involved -- know what I mean?
Is your issue a broader one in that you don't believe in having groups that are focused on folk who have a commanlity of sexual orientation, ethnicity and/or race?
Please note that I did not say EXCLUSIVE , that is a different thing and meaning.
I am a black woman who attended an HBCU(Historically Black College or University) so i don't have a problem with that at all.
At some point, we have to address our specific needs and not worry about what anyone else thinks.
I cannot always worry that a black person getting welfare means someone thinks that I am too.
If our school had a large Nigerian community and they had a group, I would not worry that folks think that I am Nigerian and English is not my native tongue.

Anonymous wrote:Well make sure you don't apply for minority scholarships either. Because those aren't fair either. The BEST qualified students should go into schools and college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, go ahead and be pissed about this, OP, because clearly Latino parents have SO MANY advantages and special deals that you are cut out of.

PP again. Okay, this is my last post in a row, I promise!

This right here if what I find offensive. As if ALL Latino parents are somehow 'disadvantaged'? Just because we're Latino, you assume we're disadvantaged? Where is the Asian parents meeting then? Or, the White parent meeting? If it's to address the 'needs of the community', then there should be one for all the different communities.

I'm done ranting (for now).

D
21:20 here I understand where you are coming from.
As an AA, I get the sensitivity about how people view toy and assume things about you.
But I need to make it very clear that I was speaking about what took plAce at my school.
I was also made a point to say SOME and MAY because common sense would dictate that not every Latino person has the same needs.
At my school there is as the Latino population.
Within that populAtionTe those who have need of and a bail themselves of the groupsime OP mentions.
If there were a large population of Vietnamese speaking filies who expressed Amex and desire for such a group more power to them.8?

OMG! My phone went nuts!
I meant to say:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, go ahead and be pissed about this, OP, because clearly Latino parents have SO MANY advantages and special deals that you are cut out of.

PP again. Okay, this is my last post in a row, I promise!

This right here if what I find offensive. As if ALL Latino parents are somehow 'disadvantaged'? Just because we're Latino, you assume we're disadvantaged? Where is the Asian parents meeting then? Or, the White parent meeting? If it's to address the 'needs of the community', then there should be one for all the different communities.

I'm done ranting (for now).

21:20 here I understand where you are coming from.
As an AA, I get the sensitivity about how people view you and assume things about you.
But I need to make it very clear that I was speaking about what took plAce at my school.
I was also made a point to say SOME and MAY because common sense would dictate that not every Latino person has the same needs.
At my school there is a large Latino population.
Within that population those who have need of and a desire to, avail themselves of the groups OP mentions.
If there were a large population of Vietnamese speaking filies who expressed Amex and desire for such a group more power to them.

I'm the PP you quoted. And, I am not 19:50, though I agree mostly with the sentiment in that post.

I understand what you're saying PP, and can see how having a 'Hispanic Parent' Meeting can be somehow, convulutedly (sp?) be considered well-intentioned. And, you're right. I might be overly sensitive about how we (especially, my kids) are viewed and how people do make assumptions about us based on race.

We're at a very diverse public MoCo school. The ES does NOT have a 'Hispanic Parent' group, but the MS does.

What bothers me most is that by simply having this association, it implies the following assumptions:

1) Hispanic parents would prefer or would benefit from meeting up with/socializing with other Hispanic parents.
Again, our school is very diverse and I have made great friends of various races. I have hit it off with some Hispanic parents, but have also hit it off with some Asian and AA parents. The separate 'Hispanic' group seems almost like segregation.

2) Hispanic parents need 'extra' services.
There is no Asian parent / White parent group at our MS. It's as if it's assumed that those parents/students will be fine. It seems to me, to subliminally send a message to other parents that Hispanic parents are all somehow 'disadvantaged'.

3) All Hispanic parents are the same and should be lumped together as one group.
Hispanic can describe a college-educated parent, or an undocumented worker, or a Fed employee, or an attorney, or a physician. It can describe someone from Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala. There is a huge diversity amongst Hispanics. Why would we all be lumped together?

Again, you're probably right that I'm being overly sensitive. If it's a language issue, then address it as such. Our school most all its notices home in Spanish and English. I think that's great so that parents can stay informed. But, I'm still not sold on the need for a 'separate but equal' Hispanic Parent Committee.