[throwawayjava]

> "good"

Yes. Plenty of perfectly accessible public schools are good even though they're not nearly the best.

Again, access to the elite educational institutions in the country with most of the elite educational institutions in the world is... a luxury good.

Also, as someone who tutored those kids, IMO you're not doing them any favors in the long. If you have to work for a living, then at some point way before "the best public schools in NYC, $50K/yr private schools, or bust", grit >> prep. That sort of prep also has the effect of disabusing them of a clear-headed understanding of their own limitations; which, again, can be a really terrible thing for them in the long.