After years of frenzy, it appears that the insane world of New York City private kindergarten admissions is finally ebbing, just a bit.
A baby boom, some good years on Wall Street (before the bad years) and a new vibe of hipness around raising kids in the city contributed to years of unlimited demand for schools that could charge close to $35,000 annually for kindergarten, according to Bloomberg News.
The demand started in pre-school, as documented by the hilarious “Nursery University,” documentary that portrayed the insanity as — well, insanity.
New Yorkers are hardly shunning private schools entirely and flooding into the public system, the largest in the U.S. But with the economy tanking and the city’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate, the Bloomberg story notes, fewer children are taking entrance exams for private school and applications in some private schools declined.
Does this mean just anybody can get into private kindergarten in New York City? Hardly. The exclusive Trevor Day school still interviewed about 400 applicants for only about 30 to 35 open seats, the story notes.
The Bloomberg story did a good job of quantify the issue in the city, but EarlyStories always finds something missing when reading — and writing — about this issue.
And that question is as follows: What can these private schools do so much better to prepare and education children?
They do offer smaller class sizes and quite often better facilities, including gyms and swimming pools and science labs. But the number one factor that contributes to improving a child’s education is known to be the quality of the teacher.
What evidence is there that private school teachers are better qualified, trained or do a better job? EarlyStories would really like an answer.
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