| > Public schools work to immerse kids in a diverse environment with many people from many different walks of life. Public schools are a reflection of the communities they're placed in and in much of rural America diversity isn't at play. Astra Taylor's response to a critique (of the paywalled article below) demonstrates the nuance (https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/learning-in-...) > I actually chose to go to public high school in Georgia for three years, where I saw the good and bad first hand. Unlike Goldstein, who glories in having “benefited from 13 years of public education in one of the most diverse and progressive school districts in the United States,” the school I attended was predominantly African-American and viciously segregated, with the white kids funneled into advanced and gifted courses while everyone else, the vast majority, languished. Thus, in my essay I ask, “Are schools social levelers or do they reinforce the class pyramid by tracking and sorting children from a young age?” Any honest progressive needs to admit the answer is both Your take is kind of obvious, but it's too monolithic. There are certainly some of my old friends that match your description to the T: socially awkward, insular knowledge, holding onto their parent's religious extremes. But they also have siblings that are polar opposites, for example one got a PhD in Evolutionary Bio (much to their parents ire). I think you're absolutely right that money and class are at the center of this, 'yacht schooling' is definitely a thing and their experiences should not be extrapolated generally. Paywalled, but these stories also worth a read and N+! is well worth the money.
* https://nplusonemag.com/issue-33/essays/homeschool/
* https://nplusonemag.com/issue-13/essays/unschooling/ |