Educational Equity? Who Are We Kidding?
Elarryo finally picked the Friday edition of the L.A. Times off our front porch today and began to exclaim over the article detailing how Martin Ludlow may be going down for alledgedly using union money illegally in his political campaign. Eight inches from this story was this headline:
"Tuition Hits $25,000 at Elite Schools."
After typing that headline out in this space, I need to take yet another moment to sit back and digest the fact that kids at Gompers Middle School in Watts are supposedly on a level playing field with kids at a school where you're paying that much for tuition. And given that the dollar amount doesn't include the various fees and expenses that kids at, for example, The Marlborough School are going to have to cough up, these parents are clearly believing that spending a good $30K a year is going to make their children have better lives.
The article noted the fact that tuition at Harvard this year is $28K. USC is $30K this year. Are we supposed to feel bad for the parents in the Times' article who self-righteously proclaim how they have to make sacrifices so their kids can go to private school?
There's a HUGE part of me that screams out that these parents are spending all this money so they don't have to expose their children to the poor Black and Latino masses. I think about what a better school places like Gompers -- or even Dayton Heights where Olinga is -- would be if the schools knew parents that have power were to be reckoned with. The attitude at so many schools is not one of excellence because excellence is not expected of those kids. Marlborough or Harvard-Westlake parents are expecting that their kids are going to go on to elite private colleges and then take their place as a part of the ruling class of this nation. Schools in most of Los Angeles are not run with the expectation that those children are going to do anything other than grow up to be prison inmates, gardeners, and employees at the valet stand.
I'm not hating on Marlborough because I've been there many many times. I just want that for all children...and I don't think it should cost $25K to get it.
"Tuition Hits $25,000 at Elite Schools."
After typing that headline out in this space, I need to take yet another moment to sit back and digest the fact that kids at Gompers Middle School in Watts are supposedly on a level playing field with kids at a school where you're paying that much for tuition. And given that the dollar amount doesn't include the various fees and expenses that kids at, for example, The Marlborough School are going to have to cough up, these parents are clearly believing that spending a good $30K a year is going to make their children have better lives.
The article noted the fact that tuition at Harvard this year is $28K. USC is $30K this year. Are we supposed to feel bad for the parents in the Times' article who self-righteously proclaim how they have to make sacrifices so their kids can go to private school?
"But we have quit the country club, we drive older cars and don't take the vacation unless it has something to do with the children's education. We don't have a nanny; we gave that up. It's daunting."Oh wow! Poor lady. Giving up the nanny! Such shocking sacrifice!!!
There's a HUGE part of me that screams out that these parents are spending all this money so they don't have to expose their children to the poor Black and Latino masses. I think about what a better school places like Gompers -- or even Dayton Heights where Olinga is -- would be if the schools knew parents that have power were to be reckoned with. The attitude at so many schools is not one of excellence because excellence is not expected of those kids. Marlborough or Harvard-Westlake parents are expecting that their kids are going to go on to elite private colleges and then take their place as a part of the ruling class of this nation. Schools in most of Los Angeles are not run with the expectation that those children are going to do anything other than grow up to be prison inmates, gardeners, and employees at the valet stand.
I'm not hating on Marlborough because I've been there many many times. I just want that for all children...and I don't think it should cost $25K to get it.
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