The reason we moved our kids from Montessori to public school is to throw our lot in with the majority of society. It’s made me active in the PTA and school library because up close it’s hard to ignore the challenges staff deal with, and with skin in the game, I don’t have the time to wait for someone else to do it.
Hopefully the work we put into the shared system raises the tide for all families, so my children grow up within a healthier community. (It already feels great working with other parents on it.) I recognize that it may not be academically ideal for my own kids, but studies (no time to cite) have noted that socioeconomic status is a top indicator of academic success. They’ll be fine.
Thank you for sharing. Having gone through public schools for (parental) reasons not dissimilar to your own, I agree entirely about "skin in the game": a society that encourages its most privileged to turn away from public resources is not a healthy one, and not one where anybody's interests (including the privileged) are ultimately well served.
Well, I feel exactly the opposite. I used to think I would do that, that I would put skin in the game and send my children to public schools.
But after my first born arrived, I can't do that.
She's not an ideological trumping card, she's someone I want to provide with the better opportunities at life. And taking into account everything that's going on with society and the open hate against upper middle class (where I ended up due to my lower working class parents making a lot of effort to give me a good education) it's clear for me that public schools are not about making my child excel, but about forcing on her the idea that she needs to be numbed down to fit on some standard that's made to make everything fit the pace of the lowest common denominator.
Thank you, you are making a good choice, and as someone whose parents made a similar choice (sent me to an underperforming urban public school when they could have afforded private), I am very grateful to them now.
> socioeconomic status is a top indicator of academic success
Usually because you go to a better school, no? Smaller class sizes, better teachers, better outcome. If you intentionally go to a worse school, some of that effect should be negated.
Hopefully the work we put into the shared system raises the tide for all families, so my children grow up within a healthier community. (It already feels great working with other parents on it.) I recognize that it may not be academically ideal for my own kids, but studies (no time to cite) have noted that socioeconomic status is a top indicator of academic success. They’ll be fine.