I need a good liberal (I'm counting on you, Maureen!) to explain why this is OK, because it frosts me no end:
Obamas Pick Sidwell School, Ending a Washington Guessing Game
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON — After a school search that set off weeks of frenzied speculation among parents in the nation’s capital, President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, announced Friday that their two daughters would attend Sidwell Friends School, the pricey and prestigious academy that has educated generations of this city’s elite.
The Quaker-run Sidwell, which was established in 1883, has educated the children of two sitting presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton. And there was an added bonus: grandchildren of Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who are friendly with the Obama girls, attend Sidwell.
The Obama family had considered two other private institutions, Georgetown Day School and Maret School, for their girls, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.
But Sidwell has long been described by some as the Harvard of Washington’s private schools. Its tuition runs as high as $29,442 a year.
“A number of great schools were considered,” said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Obama. “In the end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now.”
Now, far be it from me to criticize any parent for sending their kids to a private school because they think it's the best fit for their kids. I send my own children to a Catholic school, at a not inconsiderable cost, because I believe it's the best fit for my kids. I couldn't possibly afford the school the Obama kids are going to, but the president-elect can, so good for him.
What bothers me is when rich liberals like the president-elect engage in windy oratory about the glories of public schools -- and then refuse to send their own kids to them. Of course they made the decision they thought was best for their kids. Any parent would. But many parents can't. And liberals like the president-elect seem to think that's OK. So the rich get richer. Class divides never get bridged and bright DC children who don't happen to be named Obama or Biden or Bush or Rockefeller go to underfunded schools that can't provide the challenge those kids need.
I don't mean to sound too harsh on public schools. I have no objection to them. Hell, I went to them. But the model doesn't work. Wealthy public schools in wealthy communities cater to wealthy families that can afford to offer things that poor public schools in poor communities that cater to poor families can't. Wouldn't we be better off to shake things up, perhaps go to a charter school model? The Irish system intrigues me. The Irish government doesn't run schools -- churches and secular education groups do. The government just pays the bills. The result is smaller schools, more parental involvement, a scholastic identity shaped around values rather than community or class, and higher overall achievement. Rather than gut public schools, I'd like to see them unleashed so they can reach their full potential.
Who knows? Maybe then the Obamas would consider sending their kids to one.
-- MJM
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4 comments:
I agree that when the wealthy -- both liberals and conservatives -- abandon the public school system, it just makes the system's problems easier to ignore. If there were no private schools at all, and those who could afford public schools were forced to send their kids to them, YOU BET the schools would be fixed. And how.
Obviously the system doesn't work. And the recent obsession with standardized testing, spurred by the idiotic "No Child Left Behind" law has made the whole system a farce. The government says "Look, we're doing something!" when what it's doing is creating an even more unworkable model, where kids learn even less, teachers are even more hampered, but the government can feel like it's doing some good.
That said, I can't think of two children that are more in danger of being targetted by crazies than the Obama kids, and my guess is that one of the things about Sidwell that appealed to them was the assurance by the people who run the place that those girls would be safe.
I'm guessing sending them to their local D.C. public school just isn't an option because of that, if nothing else.
P.S. Maybe if I had gone to better schools, I wouldn't make these mistakes. The second sentence should say "If there were no private schools and those who could afford to send their kids to private schools were forced to send them to public schools"... etc.
I don't recall any windy oratory about the glories of public schools coming from the President-elect.
Just sayin'......
That noted right-wing rag, the Washington Post, put it much better than I did:
School Choice
Will Barack Obama deprive D.C. children of the opportunity his children have?
MICHELLE OBAMA'S visits to two private schools and her inquiries about Washington's public schools have sparked the inevitable public vs. private debate. We won't be weighing in because we would never presume to tell any parents where to send their children to school. Yet, as President-elect Barack Obama and his wife decide what's right for Malia and Sasha, Mr. Obama might want to think about the families that he would deny this precious freedom of choice.
During the just-concluded campaign, Mr. Obama spoke dismissively of the federally funded voucher program that gives poor D.C. families access to the kind of educational opportunities his family is fortunate to have. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program gives low-income families up to $7,500 per child for their children to escape failed public schools and attend private schools. Some 1,900 children receive vouchers, and many more are clamoring to join the program. Democrats, and their allies in public school teachers unions, oppose the vouchers and, with the party soon to control Congress and the White House, supporters of the program are right to worry.
Let's hope the experience of moving his girls and finding the place where they will flourish resonates with Mr. Obama so that he reexamines his stance on the District's voucher program. How is it right to take away what little choice there is for needy D.C. children? The scholarship program wasn't intended to replace Washington's public schools, and it doesn't lessen the urgency of improving them. But it does give some poor parents an opportunity taken for granted by better-off families, who can pick their residency based on school district even if they can't afford the most elite private schools.
To their credit, the schools Michelle Obama visited this week -- Georgetown Day and Sidwell Friends -- participate in the voucher program, as do many other area private schools. That means classmates of Malia and Sasha might lose the ability to attend their chosen school if the vouchers were eliminated. That wouldn't seem fair.
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