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Cramming
One of the annoying things that happens when you become a (nominal) grown-up is that you find you have to have (often) be interested in things that make your eyes glaze over even as they freak you out. All things about taxes fall into this category. And now as a parent I can add "all things about school." It is lousy, because of course one cares deeply about one's child's education and wants to be a good sport about everything. Across the country we are in the habit of moving into neighborhoods that are in "good" public school districts and even at the preschool level there are all sorts of panics and waiting lists and anxieties.
So things in New York have gotten terribly confusing and here is a piece from this week's New York Magazine that details the absurdity and difficulty New York City is currently having with public school enrollments. Kindergarten admissions is up. up, up and there are nowhere near enough kindergarten spots available-- not only at the "good" schools, but across the board in some neighborhoods.
If ever a bureaucratic institution was crying out for a documentary to be made about it, the New York City Department of Education is it. When I read articles like this, I think about Frederick Wiseman's long, hypnotic movies on other urban (often NYC) institutions (they're hard to see, but if you can catch Law and Order, Hospital, Central Park, Welfare or Public Housing, you'll get a fascinating look at how these civic structures functioned-- I use the past tense because most of the movies I've listed were made quite a while ago).
The system at the moment is so convoluted and frustrating that parents have been marching on City Hall with some regularity since February (when the reality of all of the overcrowding predictions finally hit home when kids were officially denied spaces at schools).
This is happening in different ways all over the country. I think the New York City version of the problem is unique because the system is so notoriously problematic and because the mayor fought really hard to take control of the Department of Education and everyone is wondering what sort of success or failure this will be for him.
Anyway, it isn't exactly a thriller (unless you're holding your breath trying to figure out what will happen to your kid, school-wise) but it is tense. For my part, I'm happy that this isn't a kindergarten year I need to deal with. I don't believe all will be resolved when I do need to face the music.
posted by Elise at 9:25 AM
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said...
Hopefully (especially in dearly beloved NYC) your family has the financial alternative of considering private school options for kindergarden and beyond.
5/27/2009 7:10 PM
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