The future of West Oak Lane, Germantown, Olney and East Mt.Airy? (Philadelphia: apartment complex, renting)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

But this now raises an interesting question:

Why are so many whites so afraid of plain old integration, let alone being in the minority?

I hope that none of this crowd are among those who whine, "What do you mean 'white privilege'?"

They will be in minority in the eventually. What will they do then?

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

But this now raises an interesting question:

Why are so many whites so afraid of plain old integration, let alone being in the minority?

I hope that none of this crowd are among those who whine, "What do you mean 'white privilege'?"

A very good question. One I hope to explore in my time as an educator in Philadelphia. It is especially interesting in the Northwest, where neighborhood integration has typically been better than other parts of the city, yet schools are still so segregated.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

A very good question. One I hope to explore in my time as an educator in Philadelphia. It is especially interesting in the Northwest, where neighborhood integration has typically been better than other parts of the city, yet schools are still so segregated.

The other question I asked which got ignored is what happens when there are more mixed families with children who are biracial with a child who looks white with siblings who look black. Those families exist. I know because my niece has two sons one of whom is AA looking and the other is white looking with blue eyes and blond hair. They both have the same father who's white.

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

But this now raises an interesting question:

Why are so many whites so afraid of plain old integration, let alone being in the minority?

I hope that none of this crowd are among those who whine, "What do you mean 'white privilege'?"

IME, most white folks aren’t opposed to some integration provided that integration means majority white. However, they are deeply uncomfortable with the prospect of being a minority or worse yet actually being a minority. Where schools are concerned they are afraid of changing demographics because they don’t want to be the last white family at the school since they know how their fellow white folks think and they have no interest in being integration pioneers either.

When our elementary school had reached an obvious point of no return demographically is when I started to have the occasional awkward conversation with other white parents regarding our preferences. What people wanted to know was whether my wife and I are were planning on pulling our kids out of the school. Since the question was so obviously bigoted it was asked obliquely. It was asked nonetheless because white people know that panic can set in once the racial tipping point is reached.

The sad part is that white resistance to integrating is rational in a way. Take schools for example. Every parent knows that predominantly white schools are generally better funded, have more resources, more experienced teachers, etc. White folks don’t want to relinquish those advantages so schools remain segregated.

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by kyb01

The other question I asked which got ignored is what happens when there are more mixed families with children who are biracial with a child who looks white with siblings who look black. Those families exist. I know because my niece has two sons one of whom is AA looking and the other is white looking with blue eyes and blond hair. They both have the same father who's white.

May I ask, do these children go to a district school in Philadelphia, charter, private or suburban?

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I still get "it's too far out" comments from both friends I invite up to visit and people I recommend this neighborhood to as a place to live. Welcome to Germantown, by the way! Why don't you come to the next "Meet the Editors" meeting with The Local's editors (including me, your Germantown Editor) at the Historical Society of Germantown next month? (These usually take place on the second Thursday of the month, but because one of the biggest of all Phillymag events is scheduled for that evening in September, next month's night will take place on Sept. 25.

I just might go.

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by kyb01

The other question I asked which got ignored is what happens when there are more mixed families with children who are biracial with a child who looks white with siblings who look black. Those families exist. I know because my niece has two sons one of whom is AA looking and the other is white looking with blue eyes and blond hair. They both have the same father who's white.

The only thing I can tell you on that issue is the multi-racial families tend to congregate in the same neighborhoods and consequently their children tend to end up in the same schools. Henry has a particularly large portion of multi-racial students.

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by kyb01

They will be in minority in the eventually. What will they do then?

Create white flight charter schools. It already happening in the South where most school districts are county-wide. Also, there is increasing demand for white suburbs to secede from majority black school districts. Birmingham and Baton Rouge both have predominantly white suburbs that are trying to secede from their respective school districts. A common refrain I’ve heard from white parents in majority AA DeKalb County outside Atlanta is that “small school districts are better”. I’ll give you three guesses why they believe that to be true.

I’m surprised that no one has tried to create a white flight charter in Cheltenham to date. There are a small group of white flight charters in Philadelphia, MAST and Green Woods for example.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

The sad part is that white resistance to integrating is rational in a way. Take schools for example. Every parent knows that predominantly white schools are generally better funded, have more resources, more experienced teachers, etc. White folks don’t want to relinquish those advantages so schools remain segregated.

In part because the white families in question are more affluent. So far, I know of only one top-ranked suburban school district hereabouts that spends less per pupil than the SDP does: Tredyffrin-Easttown.

And I recall reading studies that have found that the single strongest correlating factor with school performance is the median household income in the school district.

But to your point: IOW, these people are, in the words of that book that came out last year (and is on my want-to-read list), "Dream Hoarders."

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

I just might go.

If you do, I'll share a story from my "Very Mt. Airy" mental file with you.

[2e1m5a]

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

I find it hard to believe that Jenks is no longer accepting out of catchment students. Its student demographics are nearly perfectly the opposite of its catchment demographics. It’s a similar situation with Houston which has a catchment that consists of the most affluent and whitest parts of East and West Mount Airy (that’s not a coincidence BTW. It’s a legacy of the district redrawing the catchment in the late 1960s in a failed attempt to stop white flight from the school). Houston is 71% economically disadvantaged and 3% white. It’s at least plausible for Henry though I’m skeptical.

I’m not sure if Holy Cross has the capacity to expand enrollment and as you point out its demographics are not what white parents want. My guess it’s that Holy Cross won’t be materially affected assuming that OMC is actually no longer enrolling new students from outside the parish.

My siblings and I (white) all went to Holy Cross, although 2 of us went to Masterman and OMC for 5th-8th. I also went to Houston for a year and my brother Henry for 4 years. Holy Cross is a pretty interesting case study---throughout most of the 1990s the school was probably 50% Black, 40% White, 10% Mixed/Hispanic/Asian. By around 2000-2001 my sister and I were 2 of 6 white students in the entire school---my sister was the only white student in her class and I one of 3. Almost all the lower grades had no white kids. My parents decided to send my sister to OMC which had become what my parents always loved about Holy Cross---exceedingly diverse although still majority African American and I really can't blame them. Holy Cross has been 99-100% AA since. There are other factors too---there are not huge Catholic families anymore that go to their School Parish every Sunday---Holy Cross is actually 98% Non-Catholic now, so these schools have had to branch out to attract more students.