Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm divorced, but I had similar frustrations with DD's dad over school issues. He was simply too busy to actively engage with the process of lotteries. Add busy-ness to the fact that he simply could not believe that the process was so crazy. We would have these conversations where he would say over and over "I'm sure she'll get in somewhere, it can't possibly be as crazy as you thought." When she did not get into a single school, when her lowest waitlist number was in the 40s at Mundo Verde (with their 1000 applications), he was totally shocked.

At this point, it's August. School starts soon. You guys might as well try and see what happens with Yu Ying. Maybe your wife will be won over once school starts. Maybe not. Honestly, I am kind of confused by your "any language immersion" approach, especially for something like Mandarin. I would imagine that it would be difficult for a child to excel in that environment if at least one of their parents is not fully on board with the school's mission.

Anonymous wrote:Still skeptical this is a real thread and not an indie movie script. But here are some tips from BTDT.

End your Parenting Arms Race. It's a draw.

You = worked your "butt off" doing research on-line and waited in one real world line to enter a lottery. (Not one of the lines for low-income daycare vouchers or emergency housing.)

DW = gave birth to a human being and is concerned said person might be in the second or third worst performing urban public school district in the nation.

You're both right and wrong.

You = wrong because by any current measures, DC as a whole scores at the bottom rung of state and NAEP urban index level reading and math. We might have passed Detroit in proficiency a couple of years ago, but that's nothing to brag about.

DW = wrong because statewide standards and results aren't directly comparable and language immersion has more research than you can shake a smartphone at showing it's good for most people.

Reality check time. Your kid is 4 years old with clearly loving and attentive parents. No matter what school or daycare you did or did not get into, odds are your child will turn out just fine. Worldwide, education level attainment of a primary parent is the biggest indicator of a child's academic success.

Put the whole education question on ice, let your child be a child, and don't discuss education until you have at least a few months of therapy before the next round of lotteries.

Or move to Finland.

Anonymous wrote:Still skeptical this is a real thread and not an indie movie script. But here are some tips from BTDT.

End your Parenting Arms Race. It's a draw.

You = worked your "butt off" doing research on-line and waited in one real world line to enter a lottery. (Not one of the lines for low-income daycare vouchers or emergency housing.)

DW = gave birth to a human being and is concerned said person might be in the second or third worst performing urban public school district in the nation.

You're both right and wrong.

You = wrong because by any current measures, DC as a whole scores at the bottom rung of state and NAEP urban index level reading and math. We might have passed Detroit in proficiency a couple of years ago, but that's nothing to brag about.

DW = wrong because statewide standards and results aren't directly comparable and language immersion has more research than you can shake a smartphone at showing it's good for most people.

Reality check time. Your kid is 4 years old with clearly loving and attentive parents. No matter what school or daycare you did or did not get into, odds are your child will turn out just fine. Worldwide, education level attainment of a primary parent is the biggest indicator of a child's academic success.

Put the whole education question on ice, let your child be a child, and don't discuss education until you have at least a few months of therapy before the next round of lotteries.

Or move to Finland.