Anonymous wrote:Given that there are many kids who commute in to DC private schools from close-in Mont Co., McLean, and Fairfax, using strictly DC demographic data is kind of misleading.

The under-current of hostility in the tread against increasing the number of Asian Americans in independent schools is interesting....

I don't see any hostility. Most just dont think the op was realistic. I was one of the pp and Asian American. I bet many who answered in this thread are too.

STA has a high population of Asian students relative to other privates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever had the experience of being the only Asian person in a classroom full of white people? How about the only black person? Can you imagine what that is like?

I don't need to imagine. I was for many years the only Asian in a classroom full of white people, and that was in a much less enlightened time. Having had one more Asian student there would not have fundamentally changed my experience, which included some exposure to racism but not to a scarring extent. Equally important, the climate in the small, nurturing, highly self-conscious school my children attend today is very different from the climate I experienced in what was at the time a very high-quality public school.

I went to school on the West Coast where I had a large number of Asian American classmates, and it would be hard to believe that my experiences were quite different than yours precisely because of the racial composition of my school. Having only one or two Asians in a class, I agree, wouldn't change much, but having a good number where that isolation doesn't exist is healthy.

I don't assume that being the only Asian in a predominantly white, good school would be scarring, but independent schools intentionally compose their classrooms.

Would you say the same thing, by the way, if you were the only black student in a class of white students? Would you venture to say that not having a larger community of Black students would not have fundamentally changed your school experience?

Like the poster to whom you were responding, I was also one of the only APAs growing up in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood in what I take to be the same less-enlightened era (the 80s). My experience was very similar to that poster's.

You just will not find the same number or even concentration of APAs in the DC area that you will in a lot of the West Coast, especially the major metro areas. Moreover, as other PPs have explained, many of APAs live in the suburbs with good public schools, or have great magnets like TJ around, and many seem content to send their children to those schools. If OP wants their children to grow up in a majority-Asian school, s/he will just have to move to NoVA and hope their kids get into TJ.

FWIW, we live in boundary for one of the highly-desired FCPS high schools and, quite frankly, found the education to be had there (and in the elementary/middle school feeders) wanting. If you want some indication of the issues, just take a look at the Virginia Schools forum. As a result, we send our DCs to one of the more-selective privates often mentioned in this forum. In fact, DCs have friends who are both APAs (south and east Asian) and actually Asian (expats), in almost direct contrast to OPs observations. And yes, this may be anecdotal, but I'm pretty confident that all of the selective privates in DC seek to diversify their populations, certainly with respect to ethnicity. Our private is absolutely more diverse than our 2000+ HS based on ethnicity (and perhaps even SES).

, over 100 at Deal, almost 100 at Murch, 60 + at Lafayette and more than Stat PP's 4% at the other NWDC public schools. So the population is present in NWDC. I have no idea whether or not these students are applying to private schools though.

There are 60 kids who identify as Asian at Murch and the overwhelming percentage of these are offspring of embassy employees living here on visas. They live in the apartment buildings on Connecticut Ave. and they don't stay in the US for more than a few years.

There are no more than 20 Asian kids at Lafayette. http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Lafayette+Elementary+School

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you're not going to find any school in the city - public or private - that comes even close to having enough Asian-American students for them to not feel like a minority.

That's because they are a minority.

exactly, thank you!

I don't understand all the hand-wringing and accusatory statements on this thread about independent DC schools not having "enough Asians."

Folks: there aren't that many of you to begin with in the District or close-in. (i.e., close enough to be feasible to commute to NPS or GDS or Maret every day -- Oakton = doesn't count).


Is that a problem for you? Maybe, maybe not, but however you answer that question, it's not the fault of the private schools that do not assemble a student body with > 27% Asian students when there are only 4% Asian kids** within its geographic range.

** Note that the school-age population of persons claiming Asian ethnicity on the 2010 Census for DC is smaller than the overall percentage of persons in DC identifying as "Asian". That reflects the large influx of Milennial professionals 2008-2011 who are 29 and don't have kids.

So you want to use district-wide statistics to support your argument, huh? How does that hold up when you compare the private school populations of black, white, and hispanic students to the district-wide population?

Yes, I want to use "district-wide" (DC) stats to support my position because it makes sense. I'll also throw in 20815, 20816 and 22207. Maybe some 22201 if close to the river/Chain Bridge. We will not be using the zip codes from Clinton and Ft. Washington Md., Gainesville, Annandale and because those areas do not send their young to Sidwell, NCS and GDS in any significant numbers -- regardless of their ethnicity.

The one heavily Hispanic area that IS close enough to all the schools we're talking about to be commutable -- Langley Park -- is not well represented in the 2 schools I know well. Outreach is maybe in order.

Reaching out to snag the thousands of Asians living in Loudon or AAs living in Ft. Washington is unlikely. Let me ask you: would YOU commute two hours and 40 minutes every weekday to attend fourth grade? 10th grade? No. Then don't harsh on Beauvoir for not having Asian demographics of a zip code an hour and half away.

Using these ultra-logical boundaries, the better schools have demographics that are heavy on the white kids but mirror the black / Hispanic / Asian demographics of the contributing zip codes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm Asian-American and OP, I totally get your concerns. FWIW, I'm not sure there are any independent schools in DC with an Asian population that's sizable enough to make a difference. (Among public schools, I think Thomson has the most Asian-American students, but the school isn't universally acclaimed.) Honestly, you're not going to find any school in the city - public or private - that comes even close to having enough Asian-American students for them to not feel like a minority. I struggle with the same conflict, between the desire to stay in the city and the pressure to move out into the suburbs to find an Asian community of any sort.

Good luck.

Forgot to add that in my kid's class, there are 2 students who are Asian, 1 of whom is adopted, and 2 kids who are Hapa, for a total of 4 out of 24 kids.

Yu Ying is more than 25% Asian including Hapas like my kid and adopted kids. At least half the teachers are Asian. In my kid's class of 18, there are 6 kids who are Asian or 1/2 Asian.

But YY is public with entrance by lottery.

And based DCPS stats there are over 200 Asian students at Wilson, over 100 at Deal, almost 100 at Murch, 60 + at Lafayette and more than Stat PP's 4% at the other NWDC public schools. So the population is present in NWDC. I have no idea whether or not these students are applying to private schools though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you're not going to find any school in the city - public or private - that comes even close to having enough Asian-American students for them to not feel like a minority.

That's because they are a minority.

exactly, thank you!

I don't understand all the hand-wringing and accusatory statements on this thread about independent DC schools not having "enough Asians."

Folks: there aren't that many of you to begin with in the District or close-in. (i.e., close enough to be feasible to commute to NPS or GDS or Maret every day -- Oakton = doesn't count).


Is that a problem for you? Maybe, maybe not, but however you answer that question, it's not the fault of the private schools that do not assemble a student body with > 27% Asian students when there are only 4% Asian kids** within its geographic range.

** Note that the school-age population of persons claiming Asian ethnicity on the 2010 Census for DC is smaller than the overall percentage of persons in DC identifying as "Asian". That reflects the large influx of Milennial professionals 2008-2011 who are 29 and don't have kids.

So you want to use district-wide statistics to support your argument, huh? How does that hold up when you compare the private school populations of black, white, and hispanic students to the district-wide population?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm Asian-American and OP, I totally get your concerns. FWIW, I'm not sure there are any independent schools in DC with an Asian population that's sizable enough to make a difference. (Among public schools, I think Thomson has the most Asian-American students, but the school isn't universally acclaimed.) Honestly, you're not going to find any school in the city - public or private - that comes even close to having enough Asian-American students for them to not feel like a minority. I struggle with the same conflict, between the desire to stay in the city and the pressure to move out into the suburbs to find an Asian community of any sort.

Good luck.

Forgot to add that in my kid's class, there are 2 students who are Asian, 1 of whom is adopted, and 2 kids who are Hapa, for a total of 4 out of 24 kids.

Yu Ying is more than 25% Asian including Hapas like my kid and adopted kids. At least half the teachers are Asian. In my kid's class of 18, there are 6 kids who are Asian or 1/2 Asian.

But YY is public with entrance by lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - It would help to know why you are asking the question.

I am Asian American with Asian American children and am looking at independent schools in the NW DC area. I have observed that many schools here, while claiming to be committed to "diversity," seem to uphold a version of diversity that in practice is really a surprisingly antiquated version that focuses almost exclusively on black-white relations. I would like to find a school that fairly aggressively diversifies its student body (and faculty and staff) to include more Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and other kinds of ethicities. In other words, I would like to see a school that actually walks the walk of diversity, rather than simply talks the talk. FWIW, we are transplants from the West Coast.

So basically you don't want your kids around blacks.

Apply to the Cathedral schools. We knew families whose students were deciding between TJ and those schools. The choice to attend STA was not basd on NO TJ admission. Then there were people whose kids left STA for TJ. If you have not already purchased a house I would still consider Mclean near Chainbridge so each option is available. Many Asians I know want the solid back-up of FCPS. This was a position also taken by DH and some AA families. The point is all were families not plugged into connections, politics, etc. Worked hard for their money.

Anonymous wrote:Given that there are many kids who commute in to DC private schools from close-in Mont Co., McLean, and Fairfax, using strictly DC demographic data is kind of misleading.

The under-current of hostility in the tread against increasing the number of Asian Americans in independent schools is interesting....

There are absolutely NOT "many" kids who commute to the schools in Ward 3 (they're all in Ward 3) from Fairfax. I know my kids' two school cohorts well.

This is relevant because -- as I bet you are well aware -- Fairfax is where the vast majority of Asians live in NoVa. Since I know you'll bring it up, there aren't more than a handful of kids in either of my kids' grades (at two schools) from McLean. Maybe 3 per grade at most.

So no, Fairfax and Tysons are not suppliers of the chain into NWDC independents -- of any race/ethnicity.

Moving to Mont. Co, again, I suspect you know that the enormous majority of Asians in Montgomery County live north of Bethesda. I personally don't consider Rockville, Montgomery Village, "north Potomac" and Potomac "close in." Perhaps you do. Regardless ... again, as with Fairfax / Tysons, my kids' schools don't have more than two kids per grade of any race commuting in from north of the Beltway.

So it's not accurate at all to assert that the natural range of, let's just say, Maret is a circle that spans from Rockville to the west into Tysons/Vienna and then down to, say, Old Town. Not the case.

What about the fact that there is likely a disproportionately large white population in these schools?

Given that there are many kids who commute in to DC private schools from close-in Mont Co., McLean, and Fairfax, using strictly DC demographic data is kind of misleading.

The under-current of hostility in the tread against increasing the number of Asian Americans in independent schools is interesting....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you're not going to find any school in the city - public or private - that comes even close to having enough Asian-American students for them to not feel like a minority.

That's because they are a minority.

exactly, thank you!

I don't understand all the hand-wringing and accusatory statements on this thread about independent DC schools not having "enough Asians."

Folks: there aren't that many of you to begin with in the District or close-in. (i.e., close enough to be feasible to commute to NPS or GDS or Maret every day -- Oakton = doesn't count).


Is that a problem for you? Maybe, maybe not, but however you answer that question, it's not the fault of the private schools that do not assemble a student body with > 27% Asian students when there are only 4% Asian kids** within its geographic range.

** Note that the school-age population of persons claiming Asian ethnicity on the 2010 Census for DC is smaller than the overall percentage of persons in DC identifying as "Asian". That reflects the large influx of Milennial professionals 2008-2011 who are 29 and don't have kids.

Exactly. The lack of Asians in private schools in DC is directly correlated to the lack of Asians in DC. If you want to be around a lot of Asians, move to Fairfax County. If you want to live in the city and attend private schools, accept that you'll be a minority in that group. I think you'll find that you and your family will be welcome and included regardless. And my guess is that admissions will be a lot easier for you because the schools are so eager to find kids who are diverse.

Anonymous wrote:Whitman

Has Whitman moved?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you're not going to find any school in the city - public or private - that comes even close to having enough Asian-American students for them to not feel like a minority.

That's because they are a minority.

exactly, thank you!

I don't understand all the hand-wringing and accusatory statements on this thread about independent DC schools not having "enough Asians."

Folks: there aren't that many of you to begin with in the District or close-in. (i.e., close enough to be feasible to commute to NPS or GDS or Maret every day -- Oakton = doesn't count).


Is that a problem for you? Maybe, maybe not, but however you answer that question, it's not the fault of the private schools that do not assemble a student body with > 27% Asian students when there are only 4% Asian kids** within its geographic range.

** Note that the school-age population of persons claiming Asian ethnicity on the 2010 Census for DC is smaller than the overall percentage of persons in DC identifying as "Asian". That reflects the large influx of Milennial professionals 2008-2011 who are 29 and don't have kids.