Anonymous wrote:I find it exasperating that so many Asian Americans on this thread seem to be OK with--even justifying--the status quo. OP is not saying that she wants or expects California-like stats, only that she wishes that there would be some statistical assurances that an Asian American child won't be the only one in her classroom. That is not an unrealistic expectation given that private schools are premised upon engineering their student bodies for pedagogical and other purposes.

I grew up in Fairfax County when I was the only Asian-Am in my elementary school and in my GT (now AAP) class, and one of 3 in my high school graduating class. I went to an Ivy that was 20% Asian-Am, but there was not a single other Asian in my advanced courses, since I was a history major instead of a pre-med or an engineer. So I know the challenges of being the only Asian-Am in a class. But, it is not nearly a problematic as what Black and Latino students face.

There are clear paths if you think being in a disproportionately Asian-Am environment in the DC area is important. One of them is living in one an ex-burbs or sending your child to a public magnet in the suburbs. While I would prefer more Asian-Ams in my child's independent schools, it is really hard to recruit more. Every Asian-Am big firm lawyer, K Streeter, and think-tank-type I know (my professional world) already sends her/his child to an independent school. It's a small world of Asian-Ams in the social/professional class that sends children to independent schools.

How are you going to make a successful small businessman who lives in Potomac to want to send his child to Sidwell for $40k/year instead of Whitman for free? Why would a parent hell-bent on a future EE or MD send thier child to StA instead of Jefferson?

Anonymous wrote:I find it exasperating that so many Asian Americans on this thread seem to be OK with--even justifying--the status quo. OP is not saying that she wants or expects California-like stats, only that she wishes that there would be some statistical assurances that an Asian American child won't be the only one in her classroom. That is not an unrealistic expectation given that private schools are premised upon engineering their student bodies for pedagogical and other purposes.

1. If OP would look at the numbers and listen to people who have children in the schools she's looking at, she would find that her Asian American child is unlikely to be the only one in her classroom.

2. OP should consider that the approach she grew up with is not the only solution to her concerns. OP may be used to finding safety in numbers. We don't have the numbers here, and yet we've been able to raise our children in safe environments where they are accepted, respected, and valued because we look for school cultures that make that possible, optimally, for everyone.

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

Not really:

Asian students = 8.1%
Asian students + 1/4 of multiracial students = 10%
Asian students + 1/3 of multiracial students = 10.7%

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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....

The undercurrent you're experiencing is one of exasperation. PPs are not trying to dissuade Asian Americans from applying to any private schools AT ALL. They're simply trying to show you why it's not as cut-and-dried as you might think, particularly if you (like OP) came from the West Coast, where majority Asian American populations are not at all unusual.

As an Asian American who grew up on the East Coast, I find it interesting that, faced with the actual data and the "observations" of people who've actually lived here for some time (as opposed to recent transplants like OP), you and OP persist in framing the responses as some sort of hostility towards increasing the number of Asian Americans in local private schools.

I find it exasperating that so many Asian Americans on this thread seem to be OK with--even justifying--the status quo. OP is not saying that she wants or expects California-like stats, only that she wishes that there would be some statistical assurances that an Asian American child won't be the only one in her classroom. That is not an unrealistic expectation given that private schools are premised upon engineering their student bodies for pedagogical and other purposes.

This is so funny to me. There is no evidence that the Big 3 or 5 requires higher standard from Asian American students, like what exists at the college level. And the black students in these schools are more likely to be lawyers' kids than scholarship kids as well even if they are the primary target of diversity as the OP stated . If the Asian Americans don't want to spend 40K a year on a luxury good, what can the school do?

The private schools are so small, in general you cannot guarantee to have a student in the same minority demographic as your child in any given class.

Anonymous wrote:

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....

The undercurrent you're experiencing is one of exasperation. PPs are not trying to dissuade Asian Americans from applying to any private schools AT ALL. They're simply trying to show you why it's not as cut-and-dried as you might think, particularly if you (like OP) came from the West Coast, where majority Asian American populations are not at all unusual.

As an Asian American who grew up on the East Coast, I find it interesting that, faced with the actual data and the "observations" of people who've actually lived here for some time (as opposed to recent transplants like OP), you and OP persist in framing the responses as some sort of hostility towards increasing the number of Asian Americans in local private schools.

I find it exasperating that so many Asian Americans on this thread seem to be OK with--even justifying--the status quo. OP is not saying that she wants or expects California-like stats, only that she wishes that there would be some statistical assurances that an Asian American child won't be the only one in her classroom. That is not an unrealistic expectation given that private schools are premised upon engineering their student bodies for pedagogical and other purposes.

I'm an Asian-American parent of a child at one of the NW independent schools. No one disagrees with the idea that it would be great if more Asian-Americans attended them. So how could the selective independent schools recruit more Asian-Americans?

What is the prototypical Asian-American family that would be most interested in paying $40k/year for a K-12 education? Is it a first-generation engineer alumni from BeiDa or IIT or Seoul National? Or is it a small business entrepreneur? Or is it a 2nd+ generation acculturated Ivy graduate? Is it someone in law, government, policy?

What would be the best argument to them for an independent school education? How relatable is the idea of a progressive, child-centered educational philosophy? What's their orientation to liberal arts?

What are the best places to recruit/market? Asian-Am Chambers of Commerce and business associations? Saturday language schools? Foreign college alumni associations? The Ivy alumni associations?

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....

The undercurrent you're experiencing is one of exasperation. PPs are not trying to dissuade Asian Americans from applying to any private schools AT ALL. They're simply trying to show you why it's not as cut-and-dried as you might think, particularly if you (like OP) came from the West Coast, where majority Asian American populations are not at all unusual.

As an Asian American who grew up on the East Coast, I find it interesting that, faced with the actual data and the "observations" of people who've actually lived here for some time (as opposed to recent transplants like OP), you and OP persist in framing the responses as some sort of hostility towards increasing the number of Asian Americans in local private schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have 10%+ Asian Americans.

Well, if you have DDs, according to the NCES data cited previously, Holton was 12.3%, not including the potential hapa population.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have 10%+ Asian Americans.

Part of what was addressed above is that the percentage of Asian students listed for some schools does not take into account multi-race students. According to the posts above, the Asian student percentages were listed as follows:

Maret: 48/635 or 7.6%

Sidwell: 86/1132 or 7.6%

GDS: 89/1075 or 8.3%

Latest numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics. I have not examined the quality of the data.


But then the poster stated:
I've taken another look at these numbers, and it looks like info on race/ethnicity was not collected for pre-K, so the denominators in each case should be slightly smaller. There is also a separate category for two or more races.

Taking Sidwell as an example, if you take the smaller denominator and assume that 1/4 of kids in the two or more races category are part-Asian, then the % of Asian students rises to 12%.

Perhaps the OP would wish to take a look at Sidwell if she is looking for a 10-plus% Asian student population.

Anonymous wrote:Which ones? The ones i know have a lot of Asian national s. Koreans, Chinese etc.

+1 Asian nationals not Asian Americans have a huge presence at elite private boarding schools.

Which ones? The ones i know have a lot of Asian national s. Koreans, Chinese etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have 10%+ Asian Americans.

Certainly not in area public schools. Some of the schools in MoCo are 30+ Asian.

But that is in MoCo and mostly far outside the beltway in the Wootton cluster. Again the op can find her demographic there if she so desires.

Look, Asians are overrepresented in elite colleges and test in magnet schools. They dont overrepresent in elite private schools. I see this as mostly a demand side effects. They are by no means underrepresented in the big 3 either. They are just not overrepresented as the op wants them to be.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the percentage of Asian Americans (not Asian nationals)! at top boarding schools is closer to 25%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have 10%+ Asian Americans.

Certainly not in area public schools. Some of the schools in MoCo are 30+ Asian.

But that is in MoCo and mostly far outside the beltway in the Wootton cluster. Again the op can find her demographic there if she so desires.

Look, Asians are overrepresented in elite colleges and test in magnet schools. They dont overrepresent in elite private schools. I see this as mostly a demand side effects. They are by no means underrepresented in the big 3 either. They are just not overrepresented as the op wants them to be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have 10%+ Asian Americans.

Certainly not in area public schools. Some of the schools in MoCo are 30+ Asian.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have 10%+ Asian Americans.