Andy Hines, a writer and stay-at-home dad, describes his family’s debate about where to send their child to school. They live in San Diego, one of the nation’s best urban school districts, but most advantaged parents shun the neighborhood school. Instead they seek out magnet schools, charter schools, religious schools–anything but the neighborhood school.
Michael Petrilli wrote about the same soul-searching process in his book “The Diverse Schools Dilemma.” Should advantaged parents take a chance on the neighborhood school, where most children are poor and nonwhite? Or should they move to a more affluent district?
This is what Andy Hinds discovered about his neighborhood school:
“Our local public elementary school is a five-minute walk from our house. It has undergone major renovations in the past year, and although it’s not much to look at from the street, the campus is tidy and attractive, with a huge sports field, a brand-new playground, a cute little library, vegetable gardens and whimsical murals and sculptures brightening up the outdoor spaces. The principal is energetic and accessible, the staff turnover is low and the parents who do send their kids there think it’s a wonderful school.”
What’s the problem? Almost every student is poor, and more than half are English language learners.
What did the Hinds family decide? Read on.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It happens everywhere every day in America. I live in one of those school districts.
I took a chance and my kids attended for eight years, and then went to a different high school. Why? Because these schools tend to be the most mismanaged and disorganized schools because the majority of the population of parents leave it up to the schools to educate their child. The support is not there. The differences run the gamut and the districts are usually/generally/often ill equipped to handle the problems, so all of the children suffer.
You have to fix the society to fix the problems. There has been true dedication among teachers not just people who think of it as a job. There has to be collaboration among teachers and with parents, but sadly there is not.
And, don’t even let me get started on the administration. I tried for 15 years to solve/identify/fix the problems, and even though my children are grown-up I still do fight for the kids in some capacity!
It is a COMPLICATED issue. Complicated!
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Hi Brenda – how are you continuing to fight administrators? Not a criticism, a question.
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Thanks Diane for posting this mirror image of the dilemma my family faces. Similar LA community for my grandchild (as San Diego and for Brenda above) and the local public school, not walking distance, is drowning in all the problems we read about daily.
The social, academic, and moral choices young parents face, parents who were highly educated in both public and private lower and higher ed, is astounding. What a lousy conundrum! Do we follow our hearts and let our babies, pre school and kindergarten, go to schools with children of gang members, children who are slowed down in academics because they are not proficient in English, children who come to school hungry and tired from their life of poverty? Or do we seek out better venues to educate our own more fortunate progeny?
Again, as an educator in my dotage but still working, I am leaning toward and encouraging my family to send my grandson to the most diverse, but socially and academically sound school they can find, either public/private/independent. Our jobs as parents supersede all others and we must nurture our own children as best we can so they become determined and prepared citizens to truly effect change in society…unlike our president who chooses a hedge fund manager to run education policy and impose regressive decisions rather than make true change, leaving us all little hope.
It is a true test for my own moral value system…and I finally realize that my grandson’s future comes #1 with me.
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This is interesting to read about. Where I live people choose the place according to the quality of the local school district. As a result, people who care a great deal about education go to the local public schools. One thing I will say is that I grew up in a small, rural community where it is majority white but most people get free/reduced lunches. There are no gangs, etc. People from the wealthier parts of town go to elementary schools with people of the same background. By high school, everyone off all backgrounds go to schools together. The high school is rated low but I know that this high school regularly graduates people who become surgeons, doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc. If the school isn’t chaotic, a high, quality education is available for anyone who wants to put in the effort. That is why I hate the rating systems. I know it doesn’t tell the whole story.
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Hi DeeDee…unfortunately in the LA area the housing market is so punishing that young people buy homes where they can. Often middle socio-economic areas are adjacent to seriously difficult areas. This is not Beverly Hills nor Brentwood, not even Santa Monica…so although one may wish to move to be near good public schools, it not too often that folks can afford that.
I, like you, grew up in a smaller community and could walk to my elementary school which was, and still is, very good.
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We bought our first home with the knowledge that one day we would be having children to send to its schools. Our income priced us out of towns with great educational reputations, including the town I teach in. We ended up in a small town with one school, preK-8. Its reputation was not great, but it was not horrible, either. We figured two college-educated people could fill in any gaps our children may have. We did have children and they did go to that school, and they all did go on to college.
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As is often pointed out here, it is much easier to make decisions about other people’s children.
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Yup! Sadly it is so.
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“What did the Hinds family decide? Read on.”
I did, and unless I missed it (possible, I’m exhausted), the Hinds family decided nothing. It sounds like their daughters are not old enough yet. I have a strong inkling about what they ultimately will decide to do, though.
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I worry about this article that treats middle class children as a gift and poor children as the problem. It is written from the social location of white privilege. Gentrification is not a “solution” to the challenges for poor children. The fragility of this author’s commitment as he waits and watches is an example of the way “integration maintenance” too often works. Those who can leave hold the power to control the future of the school, and too often they assume that their interests are also the interests of poor families—without an authentic attempt to listen and understand. One would hope that school staffs in changing areas can work to help all the parents listen, understand, and appreciate each other. Only then will there be authentic welcome at school for all parents.
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I don’t understand these parents at all. I don’t know whether this is some kind of class divide, generational, or what. I was in much the same position in Providence last year. We visited the neighborhood elementary schools nearby, found one that we liked, and were happy to get our oldest daughter into kindergarten there through the district lottery, and that was that. Easy peasy.
If Hines had visited his neighborhood school, not really liked it, but felt some civic duty to try to organize fixing it, that would be a difficult dilemma. If you find a neighborhood school you LIKE, and somehow turn that into an elaborate group hand-wringing exercise… I just can’t relate.
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