In my town, there is one topic that comes up in almost any conversation between parents, and it is the state of the school system. For parents of kids approaching kindergarten, it’s pretty much the only topic of discussion.
My town, a city, really, is particularly diverse: racially, ethnically, socioeconomically. When I went to the public schools here, there were something like 80 languages spoken in the high school. Cool, right?
But it’s an urban school district, and brings with it all the problems that that entails. Even in my day, there were guns and gangs in the high school. About a quarter of the class didn’t graduate and only about half went to college. Yet, in addition to programs targeting those who needed extra help, enrichment programs for those who needed, well, enrichment, abounded, from elementary school on. It was possible to get a great, challenging education, and the top students went to great schools in the Ivy League and equivalent.
Since I graduated, eons ago, there’s been more “white flight.” For instance, the Jewish day school has doubled in size, leaving almost no Jews in the public schools. And the city seems to systematically do away with program after program that was targeted at advanced students. Enrichment programs in the elementary schools? Gone. Grouping and honors classes in middle school? Gone. Foreign languages? Except in one impossible-to-get-into magnet elementary, not until 7th grade. To complain about the lack of enrichment opportunities is to be called racist.
I went and toured our district elementary school and was encouraged in some ways and discouraged in more. I liked the Vice Principal, who showed me around and gave me an hour and a half of her time, and I felt good about what she is trying to do for the school. But I have been having great difficulty getting beyond the fact that, despite attending these schools herself and then spending her life as a teacher and administrator here, she sent her own kids to private school. There was some b.s. about her daughter having been ill as an infant and that she felt overprotective of her, so sent her to private, then felt she couldn’t send one to private and the others to public, blah blah blah. She is not the only teacher/administrator of the public schools that I know who has sent their own children or grandchildren elsewhere, so what does that say?
I don’t care much about the kids ending up at elite colleges, but I do care about them being challenged appropriately, learning how to learn, and enjoying the process of learning. I care about six hours of every day not being wasted. I can help them by sharing my culture and my values, by talking to them about books and world events, by paying for viola and karate and the like. But I can’t offer them challenges math and science and history in the two or three hours betweenwhen we get home and when they go to bed every night.
I love my city. I love the diversity and the amenities. I love being conveniently located near several employment centers and strategically located in an area with limited traffic, as well as and in onerous but not deadly commuting distance of NYC, should either of us ever need to work there again. I love my house, although a second bathroom would be nice.
The only option that is financially feasible for us would essentially double our commute, taking away about 45 minutes/day from time with the kids. Summer Fridays would be impossible. (At least for me. A gets short summer Fridays, damn him.) We’d give up any prospect of diversity. But we’d be getting a town that prides itself on its education and is spilling over with extra help for kids at both ends of the spectrum. To me, particularly after having seen how bad a bad school experience can be, even for one year, that opportunity is getting harder and harder to resist.
Well, I guess I cannot really comment on this because I teach gifted education for 3rd – 5th grade and it just.sickens.me. to realize how varied opportunities exist all over the United States for these special students. My state certainly is lacking in gifted education in a variety of ways, but at least they haven’t done away with it altogether like many states or districts. My GATE classes are a mixture of every race under the sun and I love it.
For me, the diversity is important, but I do think the education is perhaps MORE important. It might be worth driving farther to put him in a better school. He will be exposed to children from the neighborhood you live in, which may be more diverse, as he gets older. I do also think that even though it doesn’t seem like he gets a lot of time with you at the end of the day, your parenting does play a huge part in his success. I am sure your family vacations and exposure to many different cultural activities as he gets older will be wonderful for him.
Yeah. Well, yeah. We traded diversity for a school system that we had a lot of confidence in, and I have second thoughts about that every day (and we’re not even in the public school system yet!). Still, I went to a kindergarten open house type thing here not long ago, and I was impressed by everyone associated with it…maybe you could move here? There are a couple of houses for sale right down the street.
We are struggling with this too, and we live smack in the middle of suburbia in what is known to be an excellent school district. We haven’t toured any schools yet (we’re probably going to have A do her kindergarten year in the Montessori school she’s currently attending), but from what I hear, the focus is on providing for special needs students rather than enrichment programs. Private schools around here are absurdly expensive and I hate the thought of paying for school when there are free options, but I’m not sure the public schools are going to serve A’s needs.
As someone of a parent who is intellectually challenged in her public school readiness program and never ever ever considered anything but public school for her, I see the dilemma. I have to say for having only 15 kids 2.5 hours/day, I don’t think the teacher really gives a shit. At all. About anything but order in the classroom. She’s like a robot. And she has a fantastic reputation. She’s been doing this forever. Too long. Private school isn’t an option for us, but we moved specifically to this apartment for this school. It is in the top 5 in Los Angeles public school, but I find myself researching the magnets, too.
It’s a different world now. My mom just moved to a good neighborhood right before I turned five and turned me over to the public school. I can’t wash my hands of Mimi like that. It sucks. It never occurred to me that maybe I would have a problem with public schools.
You know Gatito the best, and have to think about his being really challenged. Do you read Here Be Hippogriffs?
The one thing that comforts me is that we can always move schools later if there’s a problem and she will adapt. So I am going to try this kindergarten first. I hope you find a perfect solution, like a magnet or charter school. I hope Gatito finds and stimulating, challenging and fun environment. I hope they all do. I’m sad for our public schools that in this time of shortfalls and layoffs, the systems aren’t working harder to keep good teachers and kids in public schools.
hahahaha. A parent of someone, not someone of a parent. Hahahaha.
Could be worse! We’re headed into the San Francisco public school lottery. Yes, it’s really a lottery. You get to list seven of the 100 or so kindergartens in the city and hope you get assigned to one of them. There are many great schools and many lousy ones.
If you pick the schools everyone else wants (e.g. Clarendon, which ~1700 of the 4750 total families applying to kindergarten listed last year, and which had ~55 non-sibling slots), you will be sent instead to the school with the most remaining openings, typically one of the three lowest performing schools in the district. The strategic ramifications get complicated quickly. Although it is obviously insane to list the most popular choices, I don’t know anyone at our preschool other than us who’s not listing Clarendon as their first choice. I guess the logic is that over 1500 other families can’t be wrong?
That said, I feel it’s kind of cool that we’re not locked into any one school unless we move away or pay for private school. But ask me again in March when the school assignments are released.