[actfrench]

As someone who has taught in private schools that cost upwards of 50k, I don't think they are all that great. Teachers are generally paid the same as in public schools and it's still slightly smaller classes of kids who have way too much homework, are taught using the same curriculum and have little freedom to direct their own learning. At Dalton, kids regularly get 4 hours of tutoring every day after school to help them do homework and the teachers come to expect that and teach to the extra support. I doubt that all the families who dislike public school here are rich. An increasing number of low-income families are pulling their kids out of school and homeschooling. Others are sending them to lower-cost private schools, parochial schools. You don't have to be rich to value and spend on education. In fact, education is one of the first things lower-income families will spend on (though it's been shown to be a poor investment). One of the things this article talks about is how more Latino and Black families are homeschooling than ever before.