Wealthy foreign parents more likely to choose urban public schools than US-born parents

An interesting story in today’s New York Times cited census data analysis showing that foreign-born parents in New York City with household incomes over $150K were almost twice as likely to choose NYC public schools than were US-born parents in the same income bracket.  The difference was even more for household incomes over $200K.  Assuming that the income distribution over $200K is somewhat similar between US-born and foreign-born New Yorkers (i.e., both have similar capacity to pay for private school), this is an interesting finding that points to cultural conceptions of what constitutes a good education. The article cites mostly Europeans, although they do interview an Indian woman.  Europeans seem to expect and assume that high-quality public education exists, whereas for affluent New Yorkers high-quality primary and secondary education may get defined by exclusivity.  I’m not sure how to explain the Indian case–in India, anyone with an income that high would be sending their children to private schools, and even poor Indians often send their children to private schools. (Some suggest that the expanding private sector schools cateriing to poor Indians may be the future of improving education in India).

The decision by a wealthy family to send their child to private vs urban-public vs. suburban public school is an intensely personal one, and one I suspect that it carries with it deeply embedded meanings attached to “good education”.  Ann Swidler talks about how culture influences our behaviors (in this case, choices) through a cultural “tool-kit” of ways of understanding the world, responding to situations, etc.  Then, based on those decisions, we define our values post-facto.  In the case of these school choices, once parents make their choices they then perhaps embed values attached to those choices–in the case of urban public schools, for example, “multicultural competency” vs., in the case of private or suburban public schools, “peers who share my aspirations, values, and interests”.  I imagine these kinds of concerns inevitably shade parents’ perceptions of the quality of the schools they visit, even if they visit both public and private schools when deciding where to send their children.