s/o Racial demographic of your DC's school impact your decision?

[smiles33]

First, let me just state outright that this is NOT meant to be an antagonistic thread. I am genuinely curious how much the racial demographics of a prospective school affects your school choice. In the thread about high school, I saw one poster's response about not allowing her non-Asian DC to attend a school with 90%+ Asians because she didn't want him to be a minority.

I just looked into our local high school's demographics and was surprised to see only 12% of students identify as white. That brings up two issues in my mind: 1) it's often presumed (at least in the US) that a majority white school usually has the best resources compared to a majority-minority school (and probably rightly so due to historical precedent) and 2) if my DDs go to this high school, they will be shocked once they enter the real world (assuming they follow in our footsteps as white-collar professionals) when they realize that world is probably 90% white.

My own high school was about 40% Asian and 58% white (with 2 black students and a handful of Latino students who didn't identify as Latino). I was completely shocked when I went to DC for an internship one summer and realized there were no Asians anywhere on the Hill except for a handful of us interns. I only saw Asians in Chinatown. It was surreal. I think I knew in the back of my mind that the world wasn't like my high school (I did watch TV after all), but it certainly colored my world view.

Would love to hear your thoughts....

[crl]

Well, we are white and ds is Chinese, adopted. And this is a definite concern for us. I do not want to live in the small town Midwest, where I grew up, and have ds be the only, or very nearly the only, Asian kid in his school.

Right now we live in SF and his school is 80 percent Chinese. That's fine with me. But a smaller percentage would be fine with me too. We've lived places and looked at living places where the percentages would be more like 25 percent Asian, 60 percent white and the rest divided among other racial groups. Those kinds of numbers strike me as fine for us.

My fear is that ds would be the cute little Asian boy until he was 16 and wanted to date. And then he would be SOL. And that's based on numerous stories I have heard from minorities and adoptive parents of minorities.

Catherine

[JBaxter]

I went to a high school with 3 black students and 1 asian. Yes that was in the whole 7-12 grades. There weren't many minorities in the area.

I have no clue what the ratio of students are in the kids schools honestly I don't care as long as the school is a decent school with good academics. The color of the kids have never been a concern to me or the boys There is a mix of races but I never thought to look up the numbers

[smilequeen]

It is of moderate importance to me. My kids are biracial (half asian/half caucasian). Our public schools are somewhat diverse here, ethnically at least, but not economically. I would say around here, economic diversity is harder to come by. My kids go to a private school that is about 1/3 minority students. I feel like in a smaller setting they get a more indepth experience with the different cultures and are able to cultivate more REAL friendships with other people. In a public school with 2000 kids, it seems like kids tend to more easily segregate. So I prefer the smaller setting. My boys have gotten such a great exposure to so many different cultures and their school is able to really embrace that. Still, no socioeconomic diverstiy, but our public schools wouldn't give them that either.

I went to a very white HS. DH went to a very asian HS. I don't think either of us ever got a full grasp of diversity of friendships until we were in dental school together. Smaller setting, more diverse, our friends from that time are from everywhere. It's what I want for my kids. DH is from Toronto too, a VERY diverse city. But he never had a single non-Chinese friend until he came to the states for dental school. I was at least doing better than that...

[pinkmomagain]

Our school district is pretty homogenous...it is predominantly white. I wish it were more diverse, but I do send my children to summer camps with more diversity and I'm happy that they at least have that exposure to various cultures, etc.

[pinkmomagain]

Our school district is pretty homogenous...it is predominantly white. I wish it were more diverse, but I do send my children to summer camps with more diversity and I'm happy that they at least have that exposure to various cultures, etc.

[Cam&Clay]

Where I grew up, my high school was 50/50 black/white. My parents made sure I went there instead of the private high school (where I had gone to elementary/middle) which was 100% white. They told me that school wasn't the real world. They were so right. I wouldn't trade a minute of my public high school education...gang fights and all.

Here, however, it is much more diverse, but DS1 and DS2 will most likely, as white kids, not be in the majority. DS1's school is more than 50% Hispanic. His high school will be as well. That part doesn't concern me. My only concern is that if a high school doesn't have enough students who want to/qualify for higher level classes (like AP), they will stop offering them at that school. A few times, they have considered redrawing the boundaries for our high school and the result would be a high school that is more than 75% Hispanic. Parents were able to argue that changing the demographics that drastically would significantly impact the course offerings at our school. They didn't change the boundaries.

We could afford private school. I wouldn't even consider it.

[ellies mom]

My daughters are biracial (half black/half white) but other than curiosity, the racial demographics of the schools didn't factor into our decision making at all. We were much more concerned with overall quality.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

1) it's often presumed (at least in the US) that a majority white school usually has the best resources compared to a majority-minority school (and probably rightly so due to historical precedent)

I would think for this sort of thing Asian would not count since it is not an "underrepresented minority", i.e. I would not assume that a majority Asian school would have less resources than a majority white school.

As far as ethnicity goes with school choice, we found ourselves drawn to an area that is more "white" than the surrounding area, so our school follows along that line and is 60% white, 20% Hispanic, 10% Asian, rest a mix. We liked the neighborhood. My son is counted in that 10% Asian, BTW. I think I should have gone with other, but they told me to pick one. :p

We did not want to be in Cupertino schools, not because of being a minority (my son is mixed race, so a minority every where), but because of the "tiger mother" type parenting and just the high pressure.

[smiles33]

GAPeach, just to be clear, I agree that majority Asian does not imply lower resources. Many Asian immigrants are of high socioeconomic backgrounds because those who can immigrate tend to be highly educated professionals due to the US' immigration policies. We're not letting in poor uneducated Asian immigrants unless they're refugees.

For the record, I was musing re: my area which is not majority Asian. I grew up near Cupertino but am longer in the South Bay. Our area is about even between Asians and Latinos, with blacks and whites at much smaller numbers. This is probably closer to the future for CA given the high immigration rates of Asians and Latinos.

[elektra]

I am really happy with our elementary choice. It's as diverse as I have seen in OC, where there are many factors at play.
High school is a different story. We are half way between two schools- one is about 70% Hispanic and the other is probably 10% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 80% white. So neither is diverse.

[maestramommy]

My own high school was about 40% Asian and 58% white (with 2 black students and a handful of Latino students who didn't identify as Latino). I was completely shocked when I went to DC for an internship one summer and realized there were no Asians anywhere on the Hill except for a handful of us interns. I only saw Asians in Chinatown. It was surreal. I think I knew in the back of my mind that the world wasn't like my high school (I did watch TV after all), but it certainly colored my world view.

Would love to hear your thoughts....

I'm totally LOL at your post, because I remember once hearing a speaker who is Asian American born in Hawaii. His family moved to SoCal when he was 10 or so, and he remembers saying to his mom, "I thought you said we were moving to the Mainland. Where are all the white people??" :ROTFLMAO:I grew up in Chicago and I remember when we first moved to L.A I was wondering where all the African Americans were:p

Our state is not diverse, our town even less so. I think it's less than 2% people of color, with Asians/East Indians being the biggest group. So unless we want to move back to SoCal, we're pretty much stuck with what we've got. :loveeyes: My kids will grow up with kids that don't look like them. The only thing that bothers me about it is that there are SO FEW Asians, I wonder how I'm going to pass on our cultural heritage, esp. once the grandparents pass away.

[AnnieW625]

At this point in my daughter's education I can't really say it bothers me either way, however in larger schools like our high schools (the high schools in our district have 4400+ students, and if you don't get into a magnet within the school that has 700 students 9-12 I can't even imagine just how lost some students must feel....maybe I am just a wimp, but YWKWIM?) it's going to be an issue of where we decide to send our girls.

I grew up in a very diverse part of California (I read some statistic that based on the size Sacramento has more Black/White marriages than most other cities it's size in entire state) and went to school with all races of people, including lots of Pakistanis, and Vietnamese or Cambodian who weren't even born here. I valued learning about other cultures, but without making really gross generalities and naming certain races here there are still certain cultures that still like to segregate and I could see why some people (probably including myself) would be hesistant to send their children to a school where a certain race makes up a large portion of the school's population. On the flip side I would prefer that my child not attend a lily white elementary school near us that has loads of over zealous parents either who will donate their entire salary to the school either. A nice balance is all I need.

[malphy]

I went to elem school as one of the few whites. I had no problem with it. Went to a more diverse jr. high school. Again, no problem with it.

Then went to small private high school, mostly white. I didn't like it. Probably because they assumed I was hispanic and so did not befriend me. That is until St Patrick's day came around and I sported my colors. Then they wanted to be my friend. Um, no thanks. I had by then made friends with the spanish, black and asian girls.

So this issue definitely resonates with me. Due to where we live dd has minimal contact with non-whites. It bothers me but I can't "bus" to a more diverse area for playgroups. I love her preschool but there are no black children. They don't exclude them there just are not many around to start with.

I will do my best to teach my daughter about all the different types of people in the world but without day to day examples and experiences it is hard. When I grew up I didn't see people in terms of color, my friends were my friends. I had white friends, spanish friends, chinese friends and black friends- but they were just friends, I didn't really see any difference.

Unless I move my daughter will not have the same experience and I am afraid she will see people based on their skin color as opposed to being a plain fellow human being. KWIM?

I so wish that I could move back to Brooklyn so dd could experience elem-hi school there. I feel it would help her be more well rounded than where we are right now.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

For elementary school, I did not want a school with high ESL percentage and we did move to avoid a school like that (also a 2/10 on school ranking sites due to test scores). I really just felt that my son would be overlooked as he is not ESL. I suppose that is the similar to racial demographic, but that was not my main concern.

Even in our school with very low ESL, I feel like my son gets the short end of the stick in many ways as he is one of the top students. Every day he has to sit in class and do busy work while waiting on a small portion of the class to finish their lessons. I know what it's like because I'm in the classroom checking it out. Kindergarten was not so bad as the activities were more open ended and creative. In 1st grade, there is much more emphasis on the core cirriculum and I feel like there is really a lack of things to engage students who are farther ahead.

I don't know. It's a tough question.

[ellies mom]

I grew up in a very diverse part of California (I read some statistic that based on the size Sacramento has more Black/White marriages than most other cities it's size in entire state)...

Well, that is where I met and got engaged to my husband.

Apparently, it is so obvious that Chris Rock asked during one of his shows if they give out white women at the airport.

The Pacific Northwest is rather white but interracial families are fairly common.

[salsah]

2) if my DDs go to this high school, they will be shocked once they enter the real world (assuming they follow in our footsteps as white-collar professionals) when they realize that world is probably 90% white.



this statement caught me by surprise. i went to an extremely diverse high school (no majority race) and then went to a predominately white university. When i got there, i was shocked by how white it was. in contrast, most of the other students at the university came from predominately white high schools and thought that the university was diverse. they were impressed with the presence of non-white students while i was disappointed in the lack of diversity.

now, i am concerned about my kids. we live in a predominately asian area. dd1's first year in preschool, she was the only white student. she was left out. when someone suggested that she didn't have friends because she was white, i didn't believe it. having grown up in a diverse area and being friends with people of various ethnic backgrounds, i didn't want to believe that she was left out because she was white. but when i paid attention to the friendships among the students there, sure enough the cliques (kids and parents) were made of people who spoke the same first language. it was even hard for me to chat with the other moms when they were all speaking languages with each other that i don't understand. the next year, another white girl joined the preschool and her and dd instantly became best friends. now in kindergarten, dd is again, the only white student in her class (there are other white students at the school, just not many.)

dh and i talked about it quite a bit. i feel strongly about moving to a more diverse area. but dh pointed out that unless dd leaves this area, there is a good chance that her co-workers will of the same ethnic background as her current classmates. dh himself is the only white person in his group at work. (and since you specified "white collar professionals" -- dh is a white collar professional.)

[kozachka]

now, i am concerned about my kids. we live in a predominately asian area. dd1's first year in preschool, she was the only white student. she was left out.

:yeahthat: That was my concern with living in Cupertino. Along with Tiger parenting/teaching to the test and segregation of ESL students into a separate school, which would have increased my commute. I had the option of opting out of the special ESL school, but not the rest, and was also concerned that DS would not do as well without ESL help.

DS is currently attending a very diverse school. There are plenty of Asians as well as kids of ~20 nationalities. And that's how we like it. His previous school had an almost 50/50 split between white and Asian students with a few Latino and even fewer black students. It was a good fit for DS. So I don't want people to think that I am somehow against Asians or any other racial group in particular. I wish there were a way to vote for both "I don't want my child to be a minority" and "I look for racial divercity" because I want both in a school for my child.

[Rainbows&Roses]

Our city district is about 75% Latino from elementary through high school. The schools suck. They are almost all on the NCLB watch lists, mostly because of the poor English skills of the kids, but also because they cannot attract good teachers due to low pay due to a poor tax base.

They do segregate the non-English speakers for the first few years and then put them all together for 3rd grade I believe, but that is not enough to get them the English skills they need to do well on the tests when they don't speak it at home as many parents here speak minimal English. When they combine, the teachers have their hands full with kids who only sort of know the language and that takes a lot of time away from instruction.

I hear stories daily of the overall poor education my neighbors' kids get. We homeschool as do several other families, all non-Latino, in our neighborhood. I wish we could afford private, but we can't.

So yeah, I guess race is responsible, but not directly for elementary at least. I wouldn't care if she were in the minority if she were at a good school. The middle school has a gang problem and that IS directly related to the high Latino population and I would not send her there.

[mjs64]

Really need an option in this poll that states "would be uncomfortable sending DC to a school with minimal diversity regardless of whether DC would be in the minority." I mean, many parents don't have the choice of whether their DC will be a minority at a particular school because he/she always will b, KWIM? So, "other," but wanted to be clear about my vote.

[egoldber]

In 1st grade, there is much more emphasis on the core cirriculum and I feel like there is really a lack of things to engage students who are farther ahead.

JMO, and I have said it here before, but this is very common no matter where your kid will be in school. If they are ahead of the curriculum, especially in K-2 where the focus is on reading and developing reading fluency, then many kids who have mastered that are left to some degree to their own devices. Obviously not all schools, but it is VERY common.

Our district is very diverse. Older DD's last elementary school was very evenly split white and Asian, a significant Latino population and about 10% African American as well. There were also many, many bi or multi racial families. Her new school is much less diverse, about 60% white, 30% Asian and 10% Latino or African American. Many of the "better" schools in our system (as measured by test scores) have very high percentage Asian, with Indian, Chinese and Korean being extremely prevalent. I think some of these schools sound similar to how Cupertino is described above. There is often a lot of intense parental pressure, private tutoring (even for high performing kids), etc.

[hellokitty]

I voted other. We live in a racially UN-diverse area. My asian american kids ARE the diversity. We have no choice. With that said, it seems like our district has *some* asian american students. I grew up being the ONLY asian kid in a class of 200. Both of my older boys have at least a couple other asian kids in their class (although last yr there were NO minorities in their classes, so this yr surprised us), which is better than nothing. I've always been in awe that ppl can choose schools based on diversity, it just isn't an option here in the stix.

[Gracemom]

We live in a predominantly upper middle class white suburban area. We love our neighborhood & school, though, because it is a very diverse pocket in this area. My kids are half Cuban. My DH grew up in Miami, and I grew up in a very hispanic area of south Texas. Diversity just feels normal to us, and we wanted it to feel that way to our kids too. I love that my DD, who is in 2nd grade, talks about the many different colors of skin her friends have. They do a great job at the school celebrating the many different cultures represented. Multi-cultural night is one of our favorite events. I would not want my kids in a school that had a primarily majority culture.

[luckytwenty]

I have three kids and have realized I feel pretty strongly about this topic, as I've made the same choices three times in a row for them, living in three different states. When they are babies/toddlers, I want them in childcare that is as similar to our family as possible. I've chosen Jewish daycare/nannies three times in a row. But for K and on, I am very happy to send them to public school where whites (and especially Jews) are in the minority. We live in an affluent, predominately Latino area. Whites, Asians and blacks are about equal in population, and the majority is Spanish-speaking. I think it's really cool that my son's best friend is teaching him Spanish and that he's totally comfortable with kids of all races/ethnicities.

[lmh2402]

this statement caught me by surprise. i went to an extremely diverse high school (no majority race) and then went to a predominately white university. When i got there, i was shocked by how white it was. in contrast, most of the other students at the university came from predominately white high schools and thought that the university was diverse. they were impressed with the presence of non-white students while i was disappointed in the lack of diversity.

:yeahthat:

this is me, except my high school was mostly black / african-american

my mom was a public school teacher and my parents believe(d) firmly in the public school system. as such, i went through NYC public school all the way.

and then i got to college and was in complete and total reverse culture shock. i had seriously never seen so many white people looking pretty much exactly the same. dressing the same. almost all the same hair. and same accessories. in my life

it was bizarre. and i really think it was a downfall of our school. and i came across lots of people coming out of private school that thought the college was diverse :duh:

lack of diversity is one of my biggest concerns about where we live now

truth be told, we moved out of nyc and to this town b/c of the school system. b/c we weren't prepared to pay private school tuition for multiple kids. and the quality of the nyc public school system as a whole is truly...not good. yes, there are select good schools but you can't be assured a good elem, middle school and high school all in the same district and we weren't about to move around chasing good schools. and yes, even in a not-so-great school, a go-getter can do well...but there are many, many opportunities to fall through the cracks. and even more instances where teaching and teachers are just way below par. i could go on, but i won't...

so we are now in one of the best school districts in nj. and/but, there is very little diversity. i really struggled with this aspect when we were deciding to move. DH was less concerned b/c he felt like we still live in the metro-nyc area and that it's not as though DS will never see anyone other than a white person until he's aged 20

but i don't know... it still bugs me.

we're a few years off school still, but i've been weighing even my preschool options on the basis of diversity

HOWEVER, i should also add, my k-12 school experience was extremely diverse not just racially, but also socio-economically and "culturally" (not meaning race or economic status here, but how school is valued by the enrolled kids and their parents). there are many things i would not change about my experience and i really loved all the different people i met and was friends with over the years. but if i had the option to make the exact same choices for my son, i would definitely go a different route for safety among other reasons.

[wimama]

Sadly in my metro area there are not any schools that I know of that are truely racially diverse. Our metro area is sadly very segregated. The suburban schools have mostly white students and those schools are stronger academically. The other city schools are all highly skewed to one nationality or another based on where they are located in the city and many of those schools and students are struggling. While I would like my son to have more diversity in his school, anywhere we would send him he would either be in the white majority or he would a minority.

The public school my DS might have went to if we had not moved had a higher number of open enrollment students and did have a bit higher levels of diversity, but since we moved they are not an option to us now. Our public school where we live now does not take open enrollment students and is not very diverse. My DS goes to the neighborhood Catholic school, and in his grade the majority of the minorities students in his K4 grade are children with white parents (foreign adoptions) and one student is of mixed nationality. The minorities in his grade only comprise about 14%. I don't think the percentages would be much different at the public school, they might even be lower.

That said, I grew up in predominantly white grade, middle, and high schools. I had several friends that were minorities. When I got to college I was shocked and saddened to see that the minorities at my large public university segregate themselves and not really interact with the white students. I only had one friend in college that was an minority and that was not by my choosing.

[smiles33]

but dh pointed out that unless dd leaves this area, there is a good chance that her co-workers will of the same ethnic background as her current classmates. dh himself is the only white person in his group at work. (and since you specified "white collar professionals" -- dh is a white collar professional.)

Salsah: I think any science/tech field may have tons of Asians, but not law or business. When I went to law school, I was shocked how few students of color were there. I had ALWAYS been told "Asians are so smart and just dominate the classroom" but apparently only in science and tech. Anyhow, that's another post. What I also wanted to reply to was the point you brought up about your DD being the only white child and being excluded by classmates and their parents. That just SUCKS. I was worried my DD might only seek out Asian friends just because she's from an Asian family but fortunately, her friends at preschool represent the entire spectrum and her best friend is biracial (black father and white mother--not from Sacramento, though, to my knowledge. ;) ).

I sympathize, as I know how cliquey some people can be (particularly Asian immigrants whose English is weak so they stick to speaking their native language). It becomes a defense mechanism. I've posted about this on BBB before, but DH (who is 5th gen Chinese American whose grandparents didn't believe in teaching Chinese because of the anti-Asian sentiments during WWII and afterwards) had a tough time with his Asian classmates growing up as they ostracized him for not knowing how to speak Chinese. Those students would have their own cliques so he didn't hang out with Asians as a kid, despite going to a school with probably 30% Asians at the time--closer to 70 or 80% now as it's one of Newsweek's Top 100 Public High Schools in the country so more Asians are moving into the neighborhood to go to that school.

I also recognize I didn't really offer the option of "I want racial diversity and I prefer not having my child be the minority (but it's just not feasible in this area for DC not to be minorities)." I figured that some of us EXPECT our DC to be in the minority. There are some dramatically different demographics across our country so it's very possible for an Asian student to be in the majority in some small pockets and a white student to be the minority.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone for responding so honestly and giving me such great feedback to think about.

[SnuggleBuggles]

and then i got to college and was in complete and total reverse culture shock. i had seriously never seen so many white people looking pretty much exactly the same. dressing the same. almost all the same hair. and same accessories. in my life

it was bizarre. and i really think it was a downfall of our school. and i came across lots of people coming out of private school that thought the college was diverse :duh:




I switched colleges after 1 year b/c the same thing happened to me. My public schools were probably 45% African American and 55% white and my private university was 99% white. Not only that but everyone was of the same religion and almost all subscribed to the same political leanings. I couldn't handle it, especially when someone(s) wrote derogatory things on the door of one of the black students. I couldn't handle the way the racism was handled. i left the private school and headed to a large, public university with diversity of every sort. So much better.

Beth

[kijip]

Against my better judgement I had T go to a very white, nearly all middle class school for first grade because it had the accelerated class. While that was not all of the trouble with that school, it was a big part of it. I think what I say about race matters very little, what I do is what matters, and living in a diverse area and utilizing diverse schools are very important to me.

[Gena]

I value racial diversity, but in practical terms it really won't figure into our decision of where to send DS to school. The choices we have vary only a little in terms of racial diversity.

But race is not the only way be a minority. DS is a student with multiple disabilites (autism and albinism/visual impairment). DS is aware he has these conditions and they are part of his sense of identity. For us, it is important that DS has classmates who share his disabilities, classmates with other disabilities, and non-disabled classmates.

[salsah]

I wish there were a way to vote for both "I don't want my child to be a minority" and "I look for racial divercity" because I want both in a school for my child.

that is exactly how i feel. i voted other.

[justlearning]

We live in an area that has a very high percentage of Caucasians. So all of the schools lack diversity. We would have to drive 30 minutes for my kids to attend a school with more diversity.

Having said that, I have been very happy that this year 30% of the kids in my second grader's class are not Caucasian, which is much more diversity than his last two years there. And I also am happy that my son's best friend is African American (the ethnicity most underrepresented in our area).

We also are able to experience some diversity in our friendships outside of his school. For example, we are close friends with a Muslim family (who moved here from Jordan) as well as a Jewish family. (We are Christian.)

So although I wish that our area weren't so "white," I do feel that my sons are still growing up appreciating others from all races and religions, and I'm thankful for that.

[AnnieW625]

After reading all of these posts about diversity I still can't get excited about my neighborhood school as the school my daughters will go to, and my daughter is 1/4 Hispanic and very Hispanic looking, but like others have said she won't need any ESL classes and :bag she is really bright (I rarely brag or even want to brag about my daughter in terms of coming across as she is better or smarter than others, kwim?) and I could see her qualifying for some sort of accelarated program and our neighborhood school doesn't have GATE at all. If it did and maybe it wasn't made up of 73% socio economic disadvantaged kids from different areas of the district then I'd look at it more positively, but even DH who is half hispanic has issues with it too so that does make me feel a bit better, but I honestly still feel awful about it.

[salsah]

I think any science/tech field may have tons of Asians, but not law or business. When I went to law school, I was shocked how few students of color were there. I had ALWAYS been told "Asians are so smart and just dominate the classroom" but apparently only in science and tech.

even if that is the case now or where you live, i can't imagine that all of dd's classmates will go into science/tech fields. wouldn't some of them go into other professions? (just remembered that dd's teacher is asian too!)

while profession may be a factor, i think the diversity of the region plays a bigger role. i worked in business (pre-kids, i was a CPA with a big five firm) and saw plenty of diversity in our office. dh is an engineer, his office is almost exclusively asian. but he works with engineers at one of the company's out of state offices where they are all white. (same company, same field, same project, different geographic location.) first time he went to their office, he was shocked. he didn't see a single asian person the whole time. not in the office, not on the streets, not in restaurants or stores or even at the hotel.

[salsah]

I also recognize I didn't really offer the option of "I want racial diversity and I prefer not having my child be the minority (but it's just not feasible in this area for DC not to be minorities)." I figured that some of us EXPECT our DC to be in the minority. There are some dramatically different demographics across our country so it's very possible for an Asian student to be in the majority in some small pockets and a white student to be the minority.



that's true. i think i was spoiled at my high school. it was so diverse, there was no majority. i also ignorantly never thought that my american, white dd would be in the minority. actually, to be more specific, i knew she could be in a minority group, but i never expected her to be the single minority -- no group. the area we live in is diverse, although predominately asian. the rest of her school has white students. but for some reason, she is the only one in her class.

[Globetrotter]

I voted other.

Our neighborhood school is heavily Asian, but we wanted to get away from the Tiger Mom crowd, which is predominant there. Their new school has about 15-20% Asians if you count the biracial kids, which is just right, IMO. Like PP, we worried how they will do in the real world where everyone isn't Asian :) so we are now immersing them in a Caucasian crowd to provide some diversity :rotflmao:Their school also has about 15% Hispanics (that's my guess), which I like, and it is also more socioeconomically diverse than our neighborhood school. That's a good thing!

Growing up I was about the only Asian in school, and that wasn't ideal either.

[C99]

I am more interested in socio-economic diversity than racial diversity, although I think it's hard to accurately gauge either of them. I voted other because for me, the decision was more complicated than the choices listed in the poll. Because I choose to send my kids to public school, I also had/have less control over the process.

Our local public school is 86% low-income and 74% Hispanic. It has 36% ESL. It also goes to 6th grade and doesn't offer full-day K (or didn't at the time DS1 was in K). I had heard some anecdotal stories from other parents about the school administration, the parent groups and some of the children themselves that made me question enrolling my children.

The school where my children attend (also a public school - a magnet) is 36% low-income and 44% white/37% Hispanic. It has 9.3% ESL. It goes to 8th grade and offers full-day K. It is a new school (in an old building), and currently only has grades PK-4th. I love, love, love our school community and think my kids are getting a fabulous, well-rounded education there.

ETA: I grew up in a south surburban district and while my elementary school was white and Asian, the district was probably evenly split white/Asian/black. It got more diverse in terms of both race and socioeconomics as I progressed through the system into junior high and high school, as the number of feeder schools into a given school increased. I live in Chicago, where the mention of race usually refers to the white/black divide. One of my childhood friends now teaches in the district where we grew up (although in a different elem. school) and the socioeconomic make-up of the students at that school has not changed substantially, but the racial make-up is completely different than it was 30 years ago.