The Least Expensive Private School In The US

The title from today’s blog is something an acquaintance said to me not all that long ago. The context is worth giving before people write down the name of the school to contact. 

I had been invited to give a lecture to students and parents on essay writing at a local high school.  I have given perhaps a hundred such presentations over the years. It has received strong reviews in the many schools and countries in which I have been lucky enough to be invited. The students and teachers and parents were all wonderful, asking great questions, laughing, and leaving feeling encouraged that much of what they had heard about the essay process was fear-mongering and often harmful to my view of approaches to successful writing.

Afterward, the president of the PTA, several AP teachers, and a few parents all went for dinner. The school in question is wonderfully diverse. They have a wide range of students from all socioeconomic backgrounds and all races and creeds. From this point of view it is a wonderful place to do what diversity is supposed to do—expose people to other cultures, ways of living, and voices.

But what I learned that night was not all that shocking, as I had heard rumors, all of which were confirmed.  I asked the AP teachers how many under-represented students were in their classes. There was an initial hesitation. It turned out that of the 4 AP English classes offered less than a handful of under-represented students were enrolled. As the school itself is composed of over 50% minority students this meant that fewer than 5% were enrolled in classes that most highly selective schools expect for any consideration for admission.

I asked what the reason for the disparity between the overall composition of the school and enrollment in these top classes. One teacher told a story that was then affirmed by every teacher there as having happened to them too. She talked about a great African-American student who was in her AP class at the beginning of the year. She was an incredible writer and seemed to love the class. But several weeks in she told the teacher she was dropping down to a lower level class. The teacher could not believe it and told her she was one of the top students in the class and the only African-American.  She said something that worries me still about our educational system. The student said: “All my friends are accusing me of acting white. They say I just want to be an Oreo, and it just isn’t worth to me to lose my friends.” They mean too much to me.”

All of us worry about racism. It is still a huge issue in the country. But in this particular case the racism has not come from without, but within. The racial stereotypes that white supremacists mouth out loud are not necessary. Instead, the students themselves have ensured, by equating high achievement with whiteness, that their chances for spaces at the nation’s elite schools are diminished dramatically. In other words, the white racists that still exist in this country can sit back and relax. For the moment they have nothing to worry about. As long as an African-American is forced to choose between friends and higher level classes the racists have already won.  I hope there are mountains of research being done on this topic. I don’t even begin to have an answer but it is an uncomfortable truth that few want to talk about in public. And as long as this is the case, there will not be much progress made despite teachers who want to help and schools that are committed to providing great opportunities for students who wish to push themselves.

At dinner, I talked about how different this situation was at my daughter’s  boarding school. The billion dollar endowment has permitted the school to enroll talented students from every background, every geographical region of the country, and many countries around the world. And all of the students are bright and ambitious (okay there are a few slackers but not many that I ever met). Yet, if you ask the average person, or even some of the smartest people I know, they will tell me (and many have said this, so this is not hypothetical) that I am elitist for sending my daughter to an elite boarding school. On the face of it, that sentence makes perfect sense. But there is nothing perfect in this world and the logic of the sentence is flawed. Elite means it’s selective. The school selects about one out of eight applicants, so it is indeed only for elite students. But it is anything but elitist with respect to the students who attend the school. They interact in every way, in dorms, activities, and most importantly, in classes.

I have attended class there and each class of 15 (the limit of class size) is a rainbow of ethnicities, and countries, and cultures. In other words, there is the kind of diversity in challenging classes in my daughter’s school that does not exist almost anywhere else in the world. But instead of celebrating this victory for inclusiveness I have met many who simply assume that anyone who attends a boarding school is a rich snob. I have heard this not only from the general public but in admission offices too. It is a truth that some of the people who work in admission see private school students as having already had every break life can give them and so they hold the bar higher for them in admission. Of course they would never say this in public but I have heard it said on more than one occasion in private conversations with admission officers. These schools offer millions of dollars in financial aid and also offer merit scholarships to under-represented students. They are able to enroll great students as a result, no matter the race or background. Shouldn't this help undercut the simple stereotype many have about these schools and the students that attend them?

But where is the segregation in the US? It is at the public high school I visited that night. Sure, in the cafeteria or gym it is a rainbow coalition. But the AP classes represent a segregated education that has not changed much since the school was closed down many years ago during the massive resistance movement in Virginia. No need for that now. The pull of peer pressure is never greater than during the teen years, and teachers can try as hard as they can, but they can’t defeat self-segregation.  The dinner ended on a somber note, until one mother said: "This is what I tell my friends-- it is the least expensive private school in America” and everyone laughed. Except for me. I know the diversity at my daughter’s school is real and exists in all aspects of life. The real truth may be that the school I visited that night is the most expensive loss of future potential in this country. Unfortunately, I fear there are many schools out there just like this one.

As a postscript, a few months later I attended an event with the principal of the school and brought up this conversation. He affirmed all that was said. He said it is biggest problem he faced. It is unfortunate  (to put it mildly) that recent reforms in education have not addressed this issue as too many are afraid to speak on record.