Anonymous wrote:PP, the reason that a Mandarin-fluent child can't be admitted after 2nd grade is that the school's charter forbids it. DC charter school law forbids making admission contingent on any sort of placement test. I can't imagine this part of the law ever changing.

The line about preferring smaller upper grades sounds like an attempt to put a good spin on an unfortunate constraint.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not ethnic Chinese, but my Mandarin-speaking child was turned away in the YY lottery. I see those advocating for more BILINGUAL kids to be admitted being called names on this thread and cringe.

My kid learned Mandarin while we lived in China from his birth to age 4. He was cared for by his Mandarin-speaking mom (missionary family w/long history in China), nanny and preschool staff. He still learns Mandarin at home.

At a YY info evening, I asked whoever was running the session the following: If my son didn't get in before whatever the lottery cut-off age they mentioned--I think it was 2nd grade--could he, as a Mandarin speaker, attend later, replacing a kid who'd dropped out? That way, he could stay until 5th and go on to whatever feeder MS developed. I was treated rudely and told ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Is it any wonder that DCUMD posters question the way YY interacts with the bilingual community? Sheesh.

As for racial predujice in Chinese culture, it is odd to Americans, but it's also very much a factor, so no use getting bent out of shape about it. I remember my kid once refusing to eat at an Indian restaurant because "Indians are dirty people," something he learned from Chinese caregivers (commonly held view even in the Chinese diaspora). When I discovered that the YY principal was black I thought, oh right, a practical approach to drawing in the area Chinese community. YY could have done a nation-wide search to find and hire at least one experienced ethnic Chinese administrator. There are school districts in California where half the administrators are Chinese.

1. No one was being mean when you were told "absolutely not". It is a PCSB policy and they won't budge. YY has tried. You seem to be making this a school-level decision when in fact it is not.
2. A national search was done and there were NO qualified Chinese administrators who wanted to take on a brand new charter school in DC.
3. No one in the school believes that their non-Chinese child will be mistaken for a Chinese person or expects their language facility to be viewed as perfect by the Chinese. People in this world do business activities, socialize, and communicate with people from other countries who do not speak their language perfectly. Yet somehow we have global trade and enterprises.
4. Many of our families have lived and traveled in China and elsewhere in China and Asia and not felt or seen the prejudice you discuss. Many natives of these countries are thrilled when our families and kids attempt communication in Chinese. Don't you know that the first step in combating prejudice is to have authentic interactions that dispel stereotypes?
5. Why is it so important to you to portray your own people (and even child!) in such a negative light? Are you the spokesperson for China and the Chinese?

Anonymous wrote: Re MV getting over 1/3 spanish speaking students, I'm amazed and impressed. However, there are 10x as many Hispanics as Chinese in DC so it would be very hard to YY to do likewise. Less than 1% of the DC population is Chinese.