orchestra is a place ?

[masterding]

Quotes from VOA news:
Near Oakland's Chinatown, this youth orchestra is a place where Chinese children can get in touch with their roots and learn a unique skill.
It's also a safe haven for students who would otherwise have nothing else to do when school is out, says music professor Sherlyn Chew.
"A lot of our students are what you called latch key children where the parents work long hours at restaurants," said Chew.
My questions:
1.how's orchestra a place?
2."where" doesn't seem to fit in the sentence,latch key child is not a place,I don't see why it should be followed by where.I think it's more right to replace "where with "whose"and omit "the".
Thanks.

[Barb_D]

The place the orchestra practices is a place. The word "orchestra" stands in for the rehearsal hall, and all that is assocaited with it, even the entire situation of having an orchestra.

We commonly use "where" to mean to "a situation in which."

[Raymott]

Quotes from VOA news:
Near Oakland's Chinatown, this youth orchestra is a place where Chinese children can get in touch with their roots and learn a unique skill.
It's also a safe haven for students who would otherwise have nothing else to do when school is out, says music professor Sherlyn Chew.
"A lot of our students are what you called latch key children where the parents work long hours at restaurants," said Chew.
My questions:
1.how's orchestra a place?
2."where" doesn't seem to fit in the sentence,latch key child is not a place,I don't see why it should be followed by where.I think it's more right to replace "where with "whose"and omit "the".
Thanks.

It's bad writing, in my opinion. But you'll see it commonly. The use of "where" where (sic) it's too difficult to think of a better word is very common in English.

"An own goal is where you kick the ball into your own team's goal". No, an own goal is not a place.
"An own goal occurs when you kick the ball ... " Better, but it's not really a time either.
"An own goal is a play that results in ... " This is best, I think, because you are trying to describe what an "own goal" is.

But it's much easier just to use where where you couldn't be bothered to think of the right word, or harder still, the right concept that you are trying to explain. So, expect to see sentences like, "An orphan is a child where both of the parents are dead."

[masterding]

The place the orchestra practices is a place. The word "orchestra" stands in for the rehearsal hall, and all that is assocaited with it, even the entire situation of having an orchestra.

We commonly use "where" to mean to "a situation in which."

Compare this two sentences
1.You are saying that everyone should be equal, and this is where I disagree with you.
2.You are saying that everyone should be equal, and this is what I disagree with you.
Are they both right?if so ,what's the difference?

[Raymott]

Compare this two sentences
1.You are saying that everyone should be equal, and this is where I disagree with you.
This is correct; it's not wrong or lazy. The conversation or argument is being conceptualised in spatial terms - and in fact, if this were from a written text, "where" might even be right. (I diagree with what you said on page 32. That is the only place in the text that I disagree with you). And this is the only 'place' in the argument that I disagree with you.
That's a legitimate use of "where"

2.You are saying that everyone should be equal, and this is what I disagree with you about.
That's correct now.

Are they both right?if so ,what's the difference?
There's no difference in meaning. There is one point on which they disagree, and since that point has been explicitly mentioned, it doesn't matter whether you conceptualise it as being a point in space or time or any other dimension, because the two people understand what it means.

I see Barb's logged off. So I've answered.