Disappointment abounds

When I read the headline of this New York Times article (Leaving the City for the Schools, and Regretting It), I was excited – perhaps there was finally an article extolling some of the virtues of urban public schools. Yes, these schools have plenty of troubles and there are schools in NYC that any parent would run from (assuming they could), but there are also schools in NYC that provide a good education, and with a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds that can be an educational asset. Unfortunately, that is not what this article was about.

I won’t go on too long, since the article is clearly intended to fuel the anxieties and “beat the Joneses” impulses of upper-class parents. Suffice it to say that the concerns highlighted do not impact most people. For example, one parent’s pressing problem that “her husband’s Ford Focus had become something of a joke parked alongside his co-workers’ Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, as the family has forgone fancy cars and vacations to afford the tuition [of an expensive private school].” Or the horror that “public schools, powerless to choose who fills the desks, often had less motivated students.” Which, by the way, is not true – those high property taxes parents in the article complain about work as a pretty effective filter for who gets to fill the seats at suburban high schools.

Is this 'trend' a new problem of failing suburban schools? I doubt it. It is more likely that there is a new echelon of parents looking to give their kids yet another edge over their neighbors, and that means forsaking public schools that would be the envy of most parents in this country. Any parent would do this. It is, in fact, very reasonable for parents to give their children the best education they can afford. The unfortunate thing about this article is that it feeds into the notion that public schools are inherently inferior - only meant for the average kid (and what parent would say that their kid is average?). And it wastes news space - those words could have been better utilized focusing on the similar plight of parents in the boroughs around Manhattan, where the choice can be much more difficult - to risk their child's future at a failing public school, or find financial aid and make sacrifices (beyond giving up their Mercedes) to give their kids a chance at a good education.