Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 12:30PM | in Other I saw the best minds of my generation...
This kind of introspection and eyes-wide-open honesty is why I love reading Ta-Nahisi Coates, over at The Atlantic:
I spent 17 hours yesterday driving through New England with a single Dad from the projects, here in Harlem, who was trying to get his son into an elite boarding school, for high school... If I'm honest with myself, I know that while, as young man, I laughed off my school failures publicly. But privately, every time I came up short, I lost a little bit of that sense that all children and young people deserve, that sense that I was capable of anything. I spent the last decade recovering from that.
...Yesterday, watching this young black boy from the projects, talking about his love of the Odyssey (and remembering how I devoured the Odyssey in tenth grade), and finishing up his apps to these venerable institutions, seeing all that's really out there, it was a reminder of all that is really out there, and how much work I have to do on behalf of my own son.
Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 12:30PM | in Other 
Reader Comments (2)
Are elite schools the real answer to equality? Or do they only amplify class differences? All public schooling should provide the breadth of opportunity - it's more important to spend money on decreasing the student-teacher ratio than on high tech.
I took Coates's blog as a personal comment more than a systemic one. As a matter of public policy though, you're right. But when it comes to personal choice, I don't fault a Dad from Harlem trying to get his kid a scholarship to an elite school. In fact, I think it's beautiful.