898: An Argument

[upbeat jazz music]

Nikole and I spent a lot of time talking about our kids 10 years ago, and talking about schools.

We were reporting together on education, specifically on inequality and systemic racism in American public schools, how decades of policy choices have left public schools deeply unequal, many schools completely neglected.

And meanwhile, Nikole and I had little kids, and in our own lives, the conversation among parents was how to game the system to be sure that your children do not end up in one of those schools.

Literally every middle-class parent, no matter what their race was, was like, "You have to put her in, you know, uh, talented and gifted prep courses because they test at four, and you have to decide if you're going to put her in private school, but you're definitely not gonna put her in the neighborhood school." And I lived in the heavily Black, high-poverty neighborhood.

These questions, "What are you gonna do about school?" started right out of the gate.

I mean, my response was, "She's one."

Mm-hmm.

And people would look at me like, "Oh, you're so naive." [laughs] I remember people being like, "You silly woman." And people actually felt that that was, like, n- not being a good parent, frankly.

This intense, often judgmental scramble is something parents in places all over America do.

But in New York City, where Nikole and I live, it's arguably the most extreme version.

[upbeat jazz music] Parents have spreadsheets of schools, endless advice.

You're gonna want to avoid this school, apply to this program, maybe move to a different neighborhood.

Any contortion makes sense, not even to strive for an elite school, but to avoid a, quote, "bad school." What were the bad schools? Well, New York City has one of the most racially and economically segregated school systems in the country.

The, quote, "bad schools" that families with options tried to avoid were disproportionately Black, Latino, and poor.

In her reporting, Nikole had seen that Black students all over the country are concentrated in schools like this, where they're less likely to have the best teachers or curricula or facilities, and one reason that happens is that wealthy and middle-class families like hers opt out of those schools.

So Nikole, who had a young Black daughter and had been a young Black girl herself, when her daughter, Najah, got to be school-aged, she did not make a spreadsheet.

She did not game the system.

She enrolled Najah in a regular public school, the kind of school most New York City kids end up in.

The students mostly came from the neighborhood, Black and Latino kids, poor and working class.

Here's how Nikole saw it.

She thought, if more parents with advantage, like her, are inside a school, they could add their weight.

They'll be personally invested.

They'll be paying attention and seeing when there are problems.

They can advocate for a school, for funding, for more experienced teachers, for extra programming.