<p>America's</a> great sorting out</p>
<p>This article in The Economist reminded me of some points mini's made in the past*. It's from a much more conservative point of view, of course, but it makes the case for education being a great equalizer, and then talks about the trends, mostly toward more class divisions, they see in the US. I like The Economist because I often find they see things as outsiders we here in US, don't.</p>
<p>*See mini? I'm not completely impossible to educate. :D</p>
<p>I look forward to the day they shut down the "bad" school in the rich people's neighborhood. ;)</p>
<p>But this is also some of what is driving the prestige school fever. More and more of the middle class is slowly sinking, and they have dreams that by having sonnyboy go off to hogheaven, somehow their status will be maintained. But, ironically, even as tuitions rise, the overall percentage of those receiving needbased assistance at the top 25-50 schools remains static, or is even declining in some cases, and, in some states, state schools are becoming more and more difficult for folks in the middle (remember $52.5k/year is the middle) to afford.</p>
<p>well the seattle school district tried to shut down montlake which a a pretty nice neighborhood where professors from teh university live.
However the superintendent had to back off from closing any school.
Still the transportation commitee is headed by someone who is a huge advocate for walking everywhere- which I am on the fence about.
I think walking would be great- however smaller kids need to be supervised, and not everyone lives in a neighborhood with great schools.</p>
<p>Walking is wonderful - walked to school - no one rode the bus until HS, and then only public transportation. No yellow school buses. However, in this day and age, all those kids walking is just asking for kidnapping, etc. Oue elementary is just a couple blocks down the street, and the kids who walk usually walk where many parents walk with their kids. Pretty safe. Jr. H is too far to walk. HS even farther, and after the first 2 years, most kids drive themselves.</p>
<p>Some top tier schools are trying to do more. They University of Chicago currently has a financial aid fund drive so it can provide more to students who need it.</p>
<p>Walking to school is just another way of preempting school choice, thus, relegating people to their neighborhood schools no matter how bad.</p>
<p>As for walking to school, I recently became aware of another reason to be wary. A friend of mine told me recently that she and her daughter were once attacked by two pit bulls while walking to school. So now I wonder, should I let them walk, even with friends? I usually stand at the corner and watch the six year old walk two blocks to school. Now that this dog danger has entered my consciousness, I wonder if that is enough . . .</p>
<p>"Some top tier schools are trying to do more. They University of Chicago currently has a financial aid fund drive so it can provide more to students who need it."</p>
<p>As a UChicago alum, I'm happy to see it, but the issue is not so much in the financial aid offices but in the admissions offices (generally speaking). It's not so much that the aid being offered is poorer than it used to be, but that the percentage of students receiving aid at all has been slowly ratcheted down and, if the Harvard and Williams data are any indication, the vast majority of those who are receiving it are in the upper quintile income brackets (just not top 5%)..</p>