[pwagland]

IMO this is a largely American POV: I'm rich so my children are _allowed_ to have a good education, you are not, so your children _must_ have a poor education. This is perhaps an extreme restatement of your view? But in many countries, a good education is considered the right of every child.

That is _not_ to say that as a parent you cannot make material changes in the chances that your children have. You can afford to give them more attention at home. You can afford to give them a safe and supportive environment in which to grow up in. You can (potentially) afford for them to do an unpaid internship, or even to give them a job in your business where they don't need to fight with a million other candidates for a job with real growth and learning potential.

None of this requires that you leave them an inheritance worth millions. And none of it requires that your kids must have a better school than everyone else. Money already confers so many advantages, schools don't need to accentuate them.

[zaroth]

No I don’t think that’s an accurate (even if extreme) restatement at all. I said nothing at all about “allowed” or “must”. All children in the US are guaranteed access to a free public school education. And we spend quite a bit of money on providing that service! I went to public school K-12 and my children are going to public school — albeit in a wealthy suburb with a top rated school system.

The question is simple — is it legal to send your child to a private school? Is it legal to send your child to summer school and provide them tutors? If it remains legal to do that, then parents with the time and money and inclination will be able to provide a better and more personalized education for their children.

Keep in mind that when sending your children to private school, you still pay the same taxes and you are freeing up resources at the public school for other children. However I believe studies have shown when the highest achieving students leave the rest of the classroom performs worse without them, so it could still be a net negative for the public school.

The real privilege is the time parents spend with their children at home reinforcing the learning they did at school and providing the positive environment and encouragement a child needs to continue striving to learn. That typically requires a two-parent family that isn’t in financial turmoil.