The Great Public School Debate, solved

It's commonplace for parents to gripe that people without kids don't really "get it." I actually think this is often true. But in the great liberal debate about whether white professionals should send kids to (it's always implied) mediocre public schools for the sake of economic or ethnic diversity, or should damn well send their kids to the best school they can afford because parents shouldn't sacrifice their kids' education to political ideology--and by the way, I really tried to phrase that fairly, but I think everyone here knows that I'm on the "diversity" side of that argument--a sudden and correct answer from an unlikely source: a 20-something college student. I bow in recognition of occam's razor.

Teofilo, who by the way writes really thoughtful and pretty stuff on his blog, simply suggests

that people who are worried about whether their kids will thrive should chill out a little. . . . there's no reason to reject your local school out of hand unless you know for sure that it really is part of the very lowest tier.

Perfect, huh? Try the school you're afraid might be mediocre before you move out to that more expensive suburb, and see if it's really actually better than you think for the particular personality of your particular kid. Even if you decide to move or pack the kid up for private school after a year or two anyway, at the very least you'll know a lot more about what's specifically wrong with Mediocre Elementary. If enough people did this, it could actually improve discussion about public schooling in this country enormously.

On thinking about it, I suspect the reason a young non-parent can come up with this when parents tie themselves in knots over it is because he's young enough to remember that a year or two of school, especially for elementary kids, does not make or break their entire life. And, unlike those of us who've gone through the Expecting Parent Guilt Wringer, he hasn't internalized the idea that every single decision a parent makes is etched forever in the child's cerebellum.

So thanks, Teo, for helping me, at least, chill out about worrying if Pseudonymous Kid's first grade experience is going to be the exact right way to start educating him for the rest of his life. You're right; it'll be fine. And if it's not, we can change our minds.