Comments on: Obama Girls and Being Black at Sidwell – Inside Perspectives, Part 1

By: FreedomDreamer

FreedomDreamer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:21:44 +0000

I'm excited to watch this series progress. I was a lifer a Sidwell until being whisked away to Southern Africa right around the time my socio-economically and racially diverse group of friends began to drift apart towards more homogenous groupings in Upper School.
Being Black at Sidwell and living in Trinidad, NE as a child was certainly an interesting childhood experience, but according to my friends who stayed it was the older years that were really trying.

As youngsters I think the Obama girls will do fine; it's not a huge jump from the Chicago Lab School to Sidwell, after all. As they age, and Malia deals with the ups and downs of secondary school, I suspect this will change.

...I am also a teacher now, and thought for 1/4 of a second about teaching at Sidwell before remembering that I would never leave teaching in public schools.

By: FreedomDreamer

FreedomDreamer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:21:44 +0000

By: Kofi

Kofi — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:01:01 +0000

Awesome post, this is taking me back to my own middle/high school experiences in a privileged environment.

By: elledub

elledub — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:40:55 +0000

great piece.

as a product of a school very similar to sidwell friends, i can identify with what it is like to be black in this sort of environment.

By: hustleandfloe

hustleandfloe — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:06:28 +0000

best regards, Sepia. yes, let's deal with that in the way we know we can. h&f

By: iamnotstarjones

iamnotstarjones — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:26:15 +0000

I don't even have kids and I've always felt this way about school vouchers. Thanks for the education.

These types of threads are the reason why I read J&JP.

By: Soph

Soph — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:26:11 +0000

These is a fascinating thread and as a black person from Canada, I am surprised that so many people were shocked at the idea of the Obamas sending their daughters to public schools. I went to public schools in Canada and don't know of a single person who went to private schools until I did my MBA in Toronto . In my assessment, private schooling didn't give them much advantage cause we all ended up in the same type of companies, with similar type of positions and networks. Due to the more or less good quality of high schools in Canada (Toronto slowly becoming an exception ), the value proposition of a private education is almost non-existent.

By: parker404

parker404 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:08:52 +0000

Co-sign 100%

By: Sepia

Sepia — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:52:12 +0000

the one thing we should thnk about is whether our wide access to these elite points in life have achieved a broad enough spreading of that wealth of knowledge, both book knowledge and "the system" knowledge (both easier to achieve than wealth in money) . Or does that knowledge simply mirror our class profiles?

Great question hustleandfloe.

By: Sepia

Sepia — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:46:38 +0000

Then you have the new guard, who don't have those connections. The best example I have of this is one woman (with whom I work) said she was sending her son to a county day school but she was afraid he wouldn't feel comfortable in an environment where black people were in the majority.

Wow.

By: Sepia

Sepia — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:39:27 +0000

That is part of this old way of thinking by Black Americans that is damaging us more than racism. Black people from other countries and cultures don't think that way. We do harm to ourselves by pushing so much for identity through numbers.

I think what damages us is that some of us think that because we gain entree into predominately white establishments, we've somehow "arrived" and no longer need to reach back and help the rest of us along.

What I mean by black community is just that ..... black community. Do the parents take measures to make sure their children socialize with black children and know their history? Or do they encourage their children to assimilate?

Black people tearing each other down isn't something that just happens with black students in public school. Several commentors have talked about classism and the relationship between "Scholarship Blacks" vs. "Wealthy Blacks" at these private schools.

By: GreenLadyHere

GreenLadyHere — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:54:42 +0000

islandgirl550: Back at-choo!! :>)

LOOK what I found: :>)

BARACK OBAMA SPEAKS AT HAMPTON UNIVERSITY!

GO HU!! :>) :>

President-Elect OBAMA! :>) :>)

By: Tyren M.

Tyren M. — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:23:20 +0000

I too am looking forward to the series. Like Leota (I think) above, I'm not worried about Sasha and Malia. They'll be alright. It's the children that for whatever reason don't have choice/opportunity that concern me.
Just had a discussion with an attorney friend of mine re: educating my almost 2yo. She suggested private school all the way. Minneapolis Public Schools have gone…south since I was a student. Says I need to get creative and start planning the financing of this now. So now begins the research into FA/voucher/scholarship into local private schools. I'm open to ideas. Thanks.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:10:10 +0000

Well, in my brother's & “my day”, it was NCS/St. Alban's,/Beauvoir, Georgetown, Holton Arms, Landon.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:46:31 +0000

Your last paragraph:
Well yeah, 'cause there are rules & consequences & consistency.
Contrary to public schools, one can get “kicked out” if one doesn't follow the rules.
That'll put the “fear of God” (& your parents) in you, did me.
:-)

By: Allison @ Entry Level Living

Allison @ Entry Level Living — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:20:59 +0000

Did you go to Bryn Mawr?!

By: Allison @ Entry Level Living

Allison @ Entry Level Living — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:14:06 +0000

I'm really looking forward to this series. I have been trying to blog about my experiences as a scholarship kid attending prep schools in junior high, high school and quaker school for college. I loved my time at each of these institutions and wouldnt change them for the world.

What people need to realize though is that the diversity that some of these schools champion is still, at its core extremely selective. Most of the public schools are top notch feeder schools and personality wise, cant really say I saw that much of a difference among the students.

The drama came, though, when my mother would remind to never forget where I came from (to which my uncle often replied--How can she? She's having nightmares about it to this very day!).

By: rikyrah

rikyrah — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:52:50 +0000

I think Black and Latino parents acknowledge the social price. It's the tradeoff for believing that their children will benefit from the education in the long run.

By: islandgirl550

islandgirl550 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:15:13 +0000

My parents were concerned that I would lose a connection to my roots so my mother and father taught Black History Week (yes, it was a week back then) at the private school. They fought for an African studies class. And they were UP AT THAT SCHOOL everyweek raising hell if I came home upset. So, while I had a great education, my parents had to add to it and “handle” those teachers.

My parents were professionals, but had to get straight HOOD on a Afrikaans teacher that didn't think blacks could do math for almost a year. Parents who send their kids to white private schools still have to remain active even though the education is excellent.

By: islandgirl550

islandgirl550 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:09:59 +0000

Notre Dame is a great school, but most of the kids I knew went to Foote, Hopkins, Hamden Hall, Choate Rosemary Hall, or St. Thomas' Country Day. I think I got the best of all the worlds thought, private school, public school in the late 80s, and then an HBCU.