In September, it’s Back to School season in
New York.
If I say we have to think about a school
for our daughter,
turning 3 this weekend, some people may say,
“Hey, what are
you talking about? It’s too LATE!”
Because her friends have turned 3 or will,
they will all enter pre-school this month.
Their mothers started to research schools
last fall, a year ago.
They had some difficulties with the
interviews in a cold winter,
then finally got the approval letters in spring.
Oh, I didn’t know this shocking fact: that
it takes so long for the preparation.
Sorry, my daughter.
Your mother couldn’t possibly do such a
feat.
Although I feel bad for my daughter, it is
another,
bigger shock that for private pre-school
in Manhattan, tuition is
around $20,000 a year on average.
At the famous girls’ school on the Upper East
Side,
the one Paris Hilton attended, tuition
is around $30,000….I can’t find the words..
It costs more than $2,000 a month, if I
exclude holidays.
And to my surprise, even if we pay such a
huge amount of money for our child,
some schools don’t take care of them all
day, every day, but only a few hours,
two or three days a week.
This unbelievably bad cost performance
gives me a headache…
Mmm…. even if we had started last year,
I really wonder if we can send our daughter
to pre-school….
Why is this cost so extremely high?
How can people send their child to
pre-school so easily?
When I first came to New York, my head was
full of question marks,
but I think I can understand this complex situation
little by little.
Most Japanese parents or expats don’t have to pay themselves;
their company supports their
child’s education.
They don’t have any problems. It’s all
clear to me.
Then there actually are superrich people
like a Hilton in Manhattan,
from all over the world.
To such millionaires or billionaires,
$30,000 might be equal to $30 or $3…
That’s very clear, too.
Or many parents prepare carefully for the
competitive application for
a prestigious school, pre-kindergarten through high
school.
If they send their child to such a school
with a good reputation,
he or she might have a better chance to enter an Ivy
League college.
It makes sense to me.
Although in my estimation; most parents in
the city may not fit into those categories.
Couples work hard and don’t have money to
spare for luxuries,
but they can still manage to send their child to a private
school,
even if it’s only for a few years.
Such parents may be longing for a public school after pre-school.
In some way I can understand their parental
love.
Or I know some parents are receiving
financial aid, depending on income.
But……
We are not rich, double-income or covered
by financial aid.
What should we do?
I am at a loss, but I encourage myself and
start doing research
night after night after my daughter goes to sleep,
On the website of the New York City Department
of Education ( DOE ),
I can find a Spanish version,
French, Hindi, Mandarin, Korean…and more
than 10 translations,
but no Japanese…
Sigh… it’s time to test my reading
comprehension of English and patience.
While I’m surfing the web, I finally find
information that the city provides public pre-kindergarten ( Pre-K ) for
4-year-olds.
Plus.....Wow, really? It’s all free?!
Yeah!!!!
Well, but wait.
One is $20,000 or $30,000, and the other is
FREE.
Then why do people send their child to
private schools?
Since this unfathomable mystery can’t be
solved,
I ask some mothers who have been living here for a long time.
They say, of course everybody wants to send
their child to public pre-K,
so it’s too competitive to get in.
Children with
elder siblings get first priority, and there are no seats
for children without
siblings.
They don’t take any tests or interview;
it’s just luck if there’s availability or not.
To make matter worse, they say the public
pre-K program is too limited to
cover all school districts.
That’s why most children do not have a
chance to enter public pre-K,
and their unhappy parents pay a lot of money for
private pre-school.
I see…but I still cannot give up on trying
to get public service.
Are there any other ways?
I’m wondering if it’s human nature, but as
I’m really desperate,
I can catch difficult, tiny English letters
word by word on the website.
Again I read through the DOE website very
carefully.
They prepare alternative service for
children who can’t get into school.
They say "First Come, First Served”
So I need to fight to get approval, but it
seems worth trying.
Well, I’m so surprised that the cost of
educationt from elementary
to high school, if it’s public, is all FREE.
However, if it’s private it might be more than tens of millions more…
What a great difference!
Is it the national character to make things
so black and white?
Not surprisingly, many parents aim to send
their children to public schools.
I fully realize that to families raising
children, where they live is
closely related to school.
In New York City, especially Manhattan,
even in public schools,
each school has different features.
For example, their academic level,
students’ races, school policy
and curriculums vary.
If parents want to send their children to
public schools,
some of them think about a school first, and then start to
search for
a place to live within the school district, just like us!
Around a neighborhood with good schools,
there are many rich families
with high incomes, and housing prices are high,
too.
In contrast, at schools in low-income
residential areas,
academic levels are proportionately lower and reflect the
ethnic makeup.
I heard that in a very popular school
district in Greenwich Village,
some parents are eager to send their child to
the public school,
which has a good reputation.
To qualify for the school, they
even rent a studio in the school district.
It’s very similar to the problem of public
nurseries in Tokyo.
Even so, families are assigned to
different, unwanted schools
in the next district and have no choice but to send
their child to a private school.
It means that applying to a popular school
with a long waiting list must be a big gamble..
Many people are sick and tired of such a
competitive situation
in Manhattan and think,
” Why don’t we get out of the city and buy a big house with
a huge
backyard in the suburbs if we spend a same amount of money?”
It’s very natural to think like that, and
many couples leave the city
once they have a baby.
To the families who want their children to
go to public school,
from elementary to high school, it’s very reasonable to
move and
rent or buy a new house depending on the schools.
In the same way, we’ve been searching for a
new place to live to look toward
the future when my daughter can go to a public
kindergarten when she is 5.
A kindergarten year is a preparation for
1st grade,
but it seems like a unique system in America.
Since kindergarten is directly connected to
the next five grades,
it’s very important for parents to select a kindergarten.
But how to select an elementary school…
It’s still too far away for me to feel it
is real.
Again…I work till late at night straining
my eyes on the DOE website..
Once I start my research, I’m surprised
that almost everything about
a public school in New York City can be seen on
the web!
I’m overwhelmed by the mass of data, including test scores categorized
by subjects, students’ progressive, bullying research, teachers’ salaries
and
reports from parents. Everything is totally open to the public!
What transparency…
I think I see America’s open-mindedness
here.
When parents start to search for a school,
the DOE never sends us
a letter about application process. We need to do
everything ourselves.
Some parents hire a private consultant, but
usually, no one helps us.
We need to face this big project alone.
Parents have to keep checking the website
a-- nd not only DOE’s,
but many others -- and carefully collect information and
analyze it.
Then if necessary, we have to hear the real
voices some parents
in front of the school gate.
Even if we are rejected for an appointment
for the school tour,
we can’t be shy, but have to negotiate…
So, parents have to have the ability to
collect the right information
and analyze it objectively.
Moreover, it’s very
important to have great negotiating and
networking skills, and we should be
patient and self-motivated…etc.
Sigh…we need to have countless
competencies.
Where is such a super parent in this world?
So, especially for a mother like me who has
recently come from abroad,
searching for a school and a home is almost a
full-time job.
Everything is our own responsibility.
This is America…..
I miss the ward office in Tokyo, sending me
a letter notifying me of
vaccines for my daughter.
In Japan, I often complained that the line
was too long to wait or
I was sent around a ward office, but it was nothing!!
When I think it over,
Japan is a good country, really…
Anyway, what is a GOOD school?
Is it good for parents?
While I’m in working on it, I tend to
forget, but the important thing is
that my daughter likes the school and wants
to go there every day.
I want to remember all the time that it’s
for my child, not for me.
Mother has such a wish and keeps working
tonight in front of the PC.
