Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 10:28     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.

+1

We are white and at a diverse school, but the whole cheerleading squad is black. Where can I find a school with cheerleaders that look like my child? Is this also a legitimate ask?


Not OP, but can speak to this because we share their situation and relate to this: "I would like to make some connections with Indian families due to our kids and we don't have any family in this area." A part of me wants to respond snarkily, but that doesn't get us anywhere, so I'll treat your question as though it were sincere.

When you're part of the majority/plurality, it's easy to find other people who look like you and have similar lived experiences. For minorities, especially immigrant families, experiences that feel welcoming to the majority can feel isolating, and this may not be obvious to you ("you" as in those in the majority/plurality). I'm the child of immigrants myself, and I watched my parents maintain friends only from their own community. They went with this defensive mechanism because of how they were treated by others; it's an approach I personally avoid, but I totally get it when I see others do the same today. Not saying this is what OP wants, but just pointing out why some immigrant communities stick together. (And please note that nowhere did OP say they only want to hang out with Indian families.)

Second, I want my kids to know their home experiences/traditions are normal, even if they're relatively uncommon in this area.

Finally, on a related note, bicultural families come with their own hybrid characteristics that align even less with our segregated societies. We've increasingly sought out the company of other bicultural families because they immediately get the good and bad we've gone through.

So, next time, if you honestly cannot understand why someone makes a certain choice, please just ask them what's driving it, instead of making it about you.


+1 Nicely said.
I was just speaking with another mom about this a few months ago. Our school is 15 percent Asian and I know families from that minority group that chose the school, among other reasons, because it had a cluster of kids from their minority group. They were not looking for a majority Asian school but they wanted to know their children would not stick out and because they were bringing curry or sushi for lunch and that when kids made fun of the color of their skin or called their kids "chinks" there would be enough peers that it would be socially unacceptable for the people making derogatory comments to keep doing so.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 10:16     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Your kids will get farther in life if they learn how to interact with people of diverse backgrounds, not only those who are identical to them.

Signed,
an Iranian American mom


To whom is this addressed? Nobody in this thread has said they only want to interact with people identical to them.


Exactly. As a white person who's family has been in the U.S. for centuries, I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me that wanting to live near people who share in the same customs/religion (Diwali, etc.), eat the same food, is a valuable way to teach your children that their heritage matters. The rest of the time they are assimilating into the dominant culture (watching TV, interacting with schoolmates, just being in the U.S.), why can their parents not teach them the value of where they came from? It's no different from wanting to be walking distance to a synagogue (and thus there being a high population of Jewish people), or otherwise wanting to live near others like you.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 10:02     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:Your kids will get farther in life if they learn how to interact with people of diverse backgrounds, not only those who are identical to them.

Signed,
an Iranian American mom


To whom is this addressed? Nobody in this thread has said they only want to interact with people identical to them.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 09:53     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Your kids will get farther in life if they learn how to interact with people of diverse backgrounds, not only those who are identical to them.

Signed,
an Iranian American mom
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 09:20     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.

+1

We are white and at a diverse school, but the whole cheerleading squad is black. Where can I find a school with cheerleaders that look like my child? Is this also a legitimate ask?


Not OP, but can speak to this because we share their situation and relate to this: "I would like to make some connections with Indian families due to our kids and we don't have any family in this area." A part of me wants to respond snarkily, but that doesn't get us anywhere, so I'll treat your question as though it were sincere.

When you're part of the majority/plurality, it's easy to find other people who look like you and have similar lived experiences. For minorities, especially immigrant families, experiences that feel welcoming to the majority can feel isolating, and this may not be obvious to you ("you" as in those in the majority/plurality). I'm the child of immigrants myself, and I watched my parents maintain friends only from their own community. They went with this defensive mechanism because of how they were treated by others; it's an approach I personally avoid, but I totally get it when I see others do the same today. Not saying this is what OP wants, but just pointing out why some immigrant communities stick together. (And please note that nowhere did OP say they only want to hang out with Indian families.)

Second, I want my kids to know their home experiences/traditions are normal, even if they're relatively uncommon in this area.

Finally, on a related note, bicultural families come with their own hybrid characteristics that align even less with our segregated societies. We've increasingly sought out the company of other bicultural families because they immediately get the good and bad we've gone through.

So, next time, if you honestly cannot understand why someone makes a certain choice, please just ask them what's driving it, instead of making it about you.


+1 particularly that last line.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 09:17     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.

+1

We are white and at a diverse school, but the whole cheerleading squad is black. Where can I find a school with cheerleaders that look like my child? Is this also a legitimate ask?


Not OP, but can speak to this because we share their situation and relate to this: "I would like to make some connections with Indian families due to our kids and we don't have any family in this area." A part of me wants to respond snarkily, but that doesn't get us anywhere, so I'll treat your question as though it were sincere.

When you're part of the majority/plurality, it's easy to find other people who look like you and have similar lived experiences. For minorities, especially immigrant families, experiences that feel welcoming to the majority can feel isolating, and this may not be obvious to you ("you" as in those in the majority/plurality). I'm the child of immigrants myself, and I watched my parents maintain friends only from their own community. They went with this defensive mechanism because of how they were treated by others; it's an approach I personally avoid, but I totally get it when I see others do the same today. Not saying this is what OP wants, but just pointing out why some immigrant communities stick together. (And please note that nowhere did OP say they only want to hang out with Indian families.)

Second, I want my kids to know their home experiences/traditions are normal, even if they're relatively uncommon in this area.

Finally, on a related note, bicultural families come with their own hybrid characteristics that align even less with our segregated societies. We've increasingly sought out the company of other bicultural families because they immediately get the good and bad we've gone through.

So, next time, if you honestly cannot understand why someone makes a certain choice, please just ask them what's driving it, instead of making it about you.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 08:45     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.



You mean kids that are European - as in not American? I don't know how you would parse that out from the available data.

I can say that we looked for schools with overall diversity because we are not white - but we didn't search out schools with "just" our ethnicity. I don't think this makes us racist.

Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 07:29     Subject: Re:Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
OP I think you need to be more explicit in your question. Are you looking for Hindi, Muslim or Christians from India? Are Sikh families acceptable? Are you willing to include families from Pakistan. Bangladesh or Sri Lanka? Are you looking for Hindi speakers or are Bengali or the languages of South India acceptable?
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 07:19     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.

+1

We are white and at a diverse school, but the whole cheerleading squad is black. Where can I find a school with cheerleaders that look like my child? Is this also a legitimate ask?


"We live in [part of Montgomery County with lots of kids who aren't white]. How can I get a COSA?" is a question that regularly comes up on DCUM. Occasionally it's explicitly "We live in [part of Montgomery County with lots of kids who aren't white]. How can I get a COSA? I don't want my kid to be the only white kid in the class."
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2018 06:29     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.

+1

We are white and at a diverse school, but the whole cheerleading squad is black. Where can I find a school with cheerleaders that look like my child? Is this also a legitimate ask?
Anonymous
Post 06/20/2018 21:44     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.


"White" and "European" are not synonyms. Probably Bethesda ES has a lot of European kids?

Also, white people need to move past the idea that it's racist to want your kids to have some other kids in their class who look like them.

-a white person.
Anonymous
Post 06/20/2018 21:40     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
We are European and want out children to be comfortable in school knowing they are with other European children. Please suggest elementary schools that are high concentration of white kids.

I am serious. This Indian thread and the other Asian thread are beyond racist.
Anonymous
Post 06/20/2018 17:57     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:My wife is Indian origin and I am white. We are moving to DC area and likely to look for houses around Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac. Anyone has input regarding elementary schools having concentration of Indian kids in this area? I would like to make some connections with Indian families due to our kids and we don't have any family in this area.



I assume by North Bethesda, you mean schools in WJ cluster - feeding to Tilden/North Bethesda MS and WJHS. Some elementary schools are very diverse - you will see kids with Armenian origin to Zambia origin - but you will see only a few kids of Indian origin even there. Farmland may be an exception as another poster stated.

Wootton cluster or King Farm area (college gardens es) would be better options. (If cost is not a concern, Churchill cluster is also worth exploring.)

- Parent of Indian origin in WJ cluster.
Anonymous
Post 06/20/2018 14:43     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP should be careful about Asian stats published by MCPS. 40% Asian could mean 2% Indian American or 10% Indian american. Don't reach much into it.

We are in Farmland Elementary and we have large number of Indian American kids attending the school. Parents are mostly NIH scientists. Here when you see Asian , it's consist mostly of Indian American and Arabs. Situation could be totally different in a different school.


off topic.. but, do Arabs consider themselves Asians?


Asian has different meaning for different folks to be honest. Most people don't mean South Asia( Indian subcontinent) when they say Asian here, but MCPS has American Indian as Asian. It's part of Asia so it's not wrong, but I immigrated from China and learned that Asian term is not used for American Indian here. Asian term is mostly used for China, Korea, Vietnam etc...

Some one else can have different take on this, most people don't think of Arabs when you say Asian. I am simply saying how Asian term is used in USA.

PP her who asked the question.. yes, I am fully aware of how Americans view Asians.. I'm Korean American

But, I am wondering how Arabs view themselves.

Sorry to hijack your thread OP.


Not the PP, but I have some Arab friends. They don't view themselves as Asian. They see themselves as Arab.


Sure, but the Arabian peninsula is in Asia.
Anonymous
Post 06/20/2018 12:37     Subject: Concentration of Indians in elementary School in Rockville, North Bethesda or close in Potomac
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP should be careful about Asian stats published by MCPS. 40% Asian could mean 2% Indian American or 10% Indian american. Don't reach much into it.

We are in Farmland Elementary and we have large number of Indian American kids attending the school. Parents are mostly NIH scientists. Here when you see Asian , it's consist mostly of Indian American and Arabs. Situation could be totally different in a different school.


off topic.. but, do Arabs consider themselves Asians?


Asian has different meaning for different folks to be honest. Most people don't mean South Asia( Indian subcontinent) when they say Asian here, but MCPS has American Indian as Asian. It's part of Asia so it's not wrong, but I immigrated from China and learned that Asian term is not used for American Indian here. Asian term is mostly used for China, Korea, Vietnam etc...

Some one else can have different take on this, most people don't think of Arabs when you say Asian. I am simply saying how Asian term is used in USA.

PP her who asked the question.. yes, I am fully aware of how Americans view Asians.. I'm Korean American

But, I am wondering how Arabs view themselves.

Sorry to hijack your thread OP.


Not the PP, but I have some Arab friends. They don't view themselves as Asian. They see themselves as Arab.


My work involves looking at ethnic/race breakdown of data. The definitions we use are consistent with OMB standards: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html. Arabs are categorized as white.