I was speaking to an ivy-educated friend (and parent) the other night about Philadelphia elementary school choices.  He halted the conversation when he said (I’m paraphrasing), ‘I don’t mean to be rude, but I essentially am looking at one thing in a school.  How likely is it that my child will be able to get into an ivy or near-ivy level college?’

The politically correct side of me was immediately taken aback.  What about diversity? What about community? What about supporting the local public school effort?  Then I became jealous of his clarity.  His family is fortunate enough to be able to afford private school, but when it comes down to it, so am I, and so are many people that I know, whether we care to admit it.  It is certainly more socially acceptable to downplay our economic status.  Parents spend in the neighborhood of $10K a child per year for day care, it’s not that great a financial leap to most private schools for kindergarten.  Over the last couple of months I am learning about the school choices of many of my friends and casual acquaintances who have children starting this Fall.  These are people who I know share my values.  If you had asked me last year, I would have guessed that they would have chosen a public school.  I have been surprised not only by the number of people who have been choosing private school, but by the fact that they all seem to be choosing one particular private school.  What is that about? Continue reading →