Raising Our (Jewish Kids) in Seattle

There is a lot that is great about raising Jewish kids in Seattle ... some very good shuls, a multiethnic community that has very Jewish .. or perhaps Swedish .. principles.  We have museums, great parks, fine book stores, Pike Place Market, Broadway, the ID and several neighborhoods with large Jewish populations.

All this is great .. except for one huge problem ... the schools.  Jewish parents, like many other  parents in Seattle, come from a tradition that places a high value on public schools.  We want our kids to go to school with all kinds of Americans, but we want our kids to have the best opportunity to succeed.

In that one way we are elitists.

Often, Jewish parents in Seattle grew up attending elite public schools.    I went to one of those, Boston Latin, and owe a huge amount to BLS. Besides igniting my long lasting interests in science and literature, Latin introduced me to very bright kids from all of Boston's ethnic groups.

Seattle does not have a BLS because the schools insist that opportunity must be equal for all kids.

As a result Seattle kids who are better off, either because of parental money or because they have the motivation to get scholarships, end up leaving the SPS for private schools.  The fact that the private schools are segregated apparently does not bother the parents .. many of whom remain activists in re other folks' kids in the SPS.

The extreme end of this form of classism and racism is seen in the approximately 100,000 new dwellings growing in Belltown and SLU. An entire city is being built there with NO public schools!

The worst evidence of this disdain for academic opportunity is the effort by the current Superintendent to disassemble Garfield High School.  For those unaware of the phenomenon, under Principal Amon McWashington, Garfield became an extraordinary success story.

Amon managed to attract and serve some of Seattle's best students while also building a local high school with outstanding records in athletics and Jazz. The "natural" environment for interethnic education at GHS was outstanding.  This became THE place for kids from Seattle's gifted programs to go, not because it was in any way segregated but because Amon understood how to create an atmosphere for excellence.

During Amon's era I did a study of students taking advanced placement classes at GHS as compared with Lakeside.  The GHS kids walloped Lakeside! 

The district response?  No public support for Principal McWashington.

Now the Superintendent wants to disperse the programs from GHS to give "all kids" the same opportunities.

Hopefully politically active parents will prevent this stupidity ... but, in defense of liberals fleeing from Seattle or choosing to send their kids to Catholic, Jewish or secular private schools, , that sort of committment by any parent is very difficult.  It is simply easier to go live in the Burbs.