Ejumikashun

Before I delve into this touchy subject, let me make three things clear: 


1) I believe in public education. I am a product of public schools and have every intent of sending my child to public school. 
2) I previously taught at a charter school, which is technically a public school. ACPA Griffon Pride! I believe there is a place for charter schools within public school systems, but they are not the answer to larger, systemic problems. 
3) I believe that standardized test scores are merely a reflection of a school's student demographics, and not a true representation of the educational abilities of the teachers and staff of that school.


Okay, now for the discussion setup. I have a daughter. She will be 2 years old at the end of July. We live in Chicago. We are not sure where we will end up after Joe graduates. The plan is to eventually move back out towards River Grove, but for the foreseeable future our home is here. Which means we need to start thinking about schools. In Chicago, kids start preschool at age three and kindergarten at age five. If you're not aware, the Chicago Public School system is pretty dismal, with the exception of some pretty good magnet and charter schools. We live on the South Side of Chicago (gasp, shock, what are you thinking?!?!). We love it here. Near the University of Chicago there is some diversity, but outside of that this is predominantly a black community. So where do we send our daughter to school??? 


Option 1: The neighborhood school. Our local public elementary school currently has about 50% of students meeting state and federal standards. That's pretty low, but I could deal with that. Less than one percent of the student body is non-black. In a school of 350 kids, that's less than four. I do not think that my daughter is "too good" to go to a school with black students. I would be okay if she went to a school where she was in the minority. I am, however, concerned about her being the ONLY kid in her class or grade that's different. And I'm concerned by the parent reviews citing frequent violence on school grounds as reasons for withdrawing their students. So that's out. 


Option 2: A public magnet or charter school. There are a few of these nearby that are great. Still a majority black population, but a greater percentage of other ethnicities as well. It's a total crapshoot to get into these schools. It's based on a lottery system, and then your place is weighted by whether you live within some magic boundary or not. So in case she doesn't get into one of these we have to consider Option 3.


Option 3: Private school. I bristle just at the thought of it. I'm a public school kid through and through. Private school is for snobs and people who think they're better than everyone else. And a private preschool seems like the worst of it. I mean preschool is preschool, right? They color, learn letters and shapes, get socialized a bit. How much can it vary, really? And not only that, but there are admission requirements. To preschool. For real. A common one is having previously attended Nursery School. I'm not even kidding. That means they want your child to be in school at age 2. Two years old! 


And this, dear friends, is why I am freaking out right now. Lily will be two in the fall. I don't want her to start going to school yet. I want her to be a kid. To play, and have friends, and be relaxed and unscheduled. I'm sure she would be just fine at a nursery school for two half-days a week. She'd probably love it. I just can't believe that starting a two year old at school, nursery or otherwise, is a good thing. And it is SOOOOO expensive here. Also, the waiting lists are very long. It's almost too late at this point to try to sign her up for something starting in September. But if we don't put her in a nursery school, she won't get into a decent preschool, she won't ever learn to read or do math, and she won't have a happy life. Stop. Breathe.


I just don't know what to do. All of this is so overwhelming and it seems so ridiculous to be worrying about it when she's not even 20 months old yet. It just feels like if I choose the wrong thing now I'm going to ruin her life forever.