Keeping it real after all. No private school deposits.
The one place is like an overgrown fancy daycare. The other place is all rich white kids. Our daughter is a well-off white kid, but that is its own reward–she doesn’t need to be reminded of it every day.
Found out two little girls in her pre-K got into our top choice. With worse scores than our kid.
Chicago preferences less affluent census tracts somewhat, in lieu of using race or anything like that. We’re in Tier 4, which is the most affluent tract in the city.
On a personal level, it’s frustrating, sure.
But public institutions should reflect the general population. They should be diverse. To be diverse, certain imbalances must be redressed. Which means drawing lines somewhere.
As noted, we have every other break in life at this point. It’s not exactly a body blow.
There are so few slots in schools of that caliber and so many kids who are smart enough for them. At a certain point, past the top scores, the slots are distributed pretty randomly among the other smart kids.
The real problem: most neighborhood schools are not close in quality to the gifted/magnet schools. We shouldn’t have to root around for decent public education. It is somewhat disgraceful, even if it is common across the country.
Anyway, we have a lead on a decent neighborhood school a few miles away. We will see how it works out.
And it’s only kindergarten.
Right?
Right?