Comment: Coming to Terms (sorry, couldn't resist)

So I'm trying to deal with the fact that I think my family and I are turning into one of those families: the ones I swore we'd never be, doing things we swore we'd never do. But circumstances are such that the best option for our kids right now is that very thing that was anathema to us until very recently: private school.

I always swore up and down that my kids wouldn't go to private school. I was brought up in Quebec's rigorous (seriously, they let you go right to college in the US after 11th grade!) public Anglo schools. (This was of course before it was the LAW that no matter what you spoke at home, you had to go to school in French. Even at recess. There are language cops in Quebec. You think I'm kidding? Look up Bill 101. Sorry, I'm foaming at the mouth. Let me go get a napkin.)

In Montreal, the only kids we knew who went to private schools were "bad", i.e., the ones who got kicked out of all the public ones. But times have changed, and schools tend to suck pretty hard here in the US, as evidenced by our lagging scores on everything compared to harder working students abroad. And the city we live in has notoriously lousy schools. The schools in the suburbs, of course, are wonderful (relatively) and free. But moving to the suburbs is another thing we swore we'd never do, so we're staying in the city. End of discussion.

So what does a middle class family do if they want to live in the city and educate their kids?

Go private.

I haven't actually visited any of the three or so schools I've heard about yet. I go to the first one this week. I don't know if I'm going to be attracted or repulsed by the whole thing. I've always felt that private anythings (schools, clubs, labels) were stupid, and that if you can't include everybody you're probably an elitist asshole. So I'm really eating a LOT of crow here. So is my husband. He's a product of the rigorous suburban Chicago public schools. We're both dealing with a lot of cognitive dissonance as we consider this option for our kids.

What I'm hoping to do is find a school that not only I would want my kids in, but that I would want to teach in. If I can find that, then it's a private we will go. If not? I may end up on a ride-on mower in Blahburbia while my kids get a decent, and free, education.