Life During Recession Time: Schools
What will be the impact of the economic turmoil on Brooklyn schools? Will private schools like Packer, Berkeley Carroll, Friends, Saint Ann’s and Poly Prep see high rates of attrition? (We heard that close to 50 families have given notice to Trinity in Manhattan that their kids won’t be back next year.) It’s no secret…
What will be the impact of the economic turmoil on Brooklyn schools? Will private schools like Packer, Berkeley Carroll, Friends, Saint Ann’s and Poly Prep see high rates of attrition? (We heard that close to 50 families have given notice to Trinity in Manhattan that their kids won’t be back next year.) It’s no secret that many of the thirty-something parents sending their single-digit-aged children to these schools get assistance from their sixty- and seventy-something parents; the thirty-somethings may be losing their jobs (or just making less money) while the grandparents all of a sudden are facing the prospects of their retirement on half the savings they thought they had. In this scenario, will private schools be forced to cut tuitions or will only the truly rich be able to attend? And if many private schoolers shift to a public school system that’s simultaneously undergoing large cuts, what does that mean for class sizes and education quality? On the other hand, could the injection of some private school refugees be good news for some public schools? What do you think?
well said, northsloperenter. i went to a great public school in california, but i agree. as an aside, with 30 kids and one teacher per class and plenty of classrooms in trailers, lots of people around here would probably say it was so overcrowded that it was on the brink of collapse. we had no “enrichment” classes (although we did have recess a couple times a day) except for in random years when some music teacher wanted a few kids once a week. yet, somehow, we all survived!
Here’s an interesting report from the city comptroller’s office. It suggests that middle and upper middle class families with kids are leaving the city all the time, and that this is not the same group responsible for population increase over the last decade or so.
http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/bud/econnotes-pdf/Vol-xv-3-sep07.pdf
Self-indulgent was probably not my best word choice ever :p.
I think it is important for parents to be happy with their lives or else they will be miserable people, and no kid is better off living with miserable people.
I went to a fairly lousy public school system (in suburban new jersey), and I just want something better for my son. If it means I have to leave Brooklyn or NYC, then I will probably do it because it would make me miserable not to, even though I think I would miss the city very much.
i agree with you northsloperenter. but i don’t necessarily see it as self-indulgence to want to stay in the city, and to be willing to take some minor risk on kindergarten or first grade to make it work. in addition to seeing less of my kid once my commute is longer (and it pretty much has to be longer in order to get into one of the truly confidence-inducing suburban school districts), we’d also have less to do and more hassle involved in doing it (i.e., cars and driving or else long train rides into the city, etc.).
also, it’s a really personal thing, which sacrifices you conclude are worth making for your kid’s elementary school education and which might not be. for example, lots of people on here talk about how they work in the “arts” or media and aren’t well paid…but they love their jobs and are so fulfilled, etc. so they could sacrifice their lovely jobs in exchange for better pay, but they don’t. yet, you probably wouldn’t find that self-indulgent.
I’m honestly not sure how all this will work out for public schools, but I do know I won’t buy property in an area unless I have a high degree of confidence that 5 years from now when my kid starts school it will be in a public school that I am happy with.
This is non-negotiable. I would very much like that place to be in NYC, but if I don’t believe it can be, I wouldn’t respect myself if I knowingly sent my kid’s to a school I didn’t have confidence in just so I could be self indulgent and stay in the city.
If I weren’t a parent, I wouldn’t even consider leaving the city but having a kid makes you think about things a little differently.
11217
It shouldn’t surprise you at all. Most people make hasty decisions regarding everything and are committed to almost nothing besides their own personal whims.
i think a lot of people already do. and they like it.
Let’s start sending our kids to PS 282.
And when I mean speaking positively, I don’t mean with regard to home values, just to clarify. They are going to plummet, we all know that.
But that does not in any way change how I feel about New York.