“wealthy”, “elite”, “sheltered” ?
You guys have a skewed perspective on private schools.
Sure there are plenty whose names end in ‘academy’ or ‘preparatory school’ that cost as much as college and are predominantly white. I can’t afford to send my kid there either.
But for much less I sent my daughter to a small, arts-based preschool and a catholic, science-focused elementary and middle school. Both were very diverse with smaller class sizes. She’s taken Spanish since kindergarten and just got placed in all honors classes for high school.
And both schools are only s couple miles outside of Boston, on a city bus line, in a busy square. As someone who went to public school and spent a lot of time on the street, I can tell you they are not sheltered in the least.
What they are though is focused on their school work and in treating each other with respect. They spend their time singing at the old folks home across the street or raising money for women’s shelters when they’re not noshing pizza in the square with their friends.
Yes, many public school systems should be better. I know first hand as I teach at colleges that enroll underserved students from those very same bad public school systems — where I end up having to teach college freshman how to read a ruler or do basic math they should have learned much earlier; or where I correct papers that you’d think were written by a third grader.
So while I attend my town hall meetings and write my politicians about how crappy my public school system is, my daughter needs a good education while we’re all waiting around for the beaurocrats to get their heads out of their asses.