Oh yeah? Well my daddy is Secratariet.
Our kids attend a private school. Chris and I both went to public schools and Chris' parents were teachers in public schools. This post is not discrediting public or private education.
Why do our kids go to private school? It's a great liberal arts school and we're able to knock some nickles together to make it happen. When we can't find anymore change under the couch cushions, we'll go to plan B. The school also provides some much needed diversity for our kids.
Living in Utah county there's almost no religious diversity, and there are lots and lots of white people. Attractive white people. Other than when Mom and Dad lived in Venezuela, I don't think I've seen so many attractive people in one geographic location. In Caracas the women had big boobs, pretty lips, white teeth, silky hair, perfect manicures, tight clothes and high heels.
Once before a visit Mom warned me, "Just leave any jealous tendencies at home. The women here are drop-dead gorgeous. They dress sexy all the time, and they love attention... I think the national fabric is spandex. Chris will gawk. So will you. Prepare yourself." The women were gorgeous and the men were handsome and machismo. Back to the education issue.
It was important for us to send our kids to a school that offered more diversity. We were seeking different faiths, ethnicities, family size and shape, and maybe a few ugly kids.
I was on a ski lift last winter with a couple from NYC. People are always curious about what it's "really like" to live here. They asked all the usual questions about liquor laws, and do people try to convert us. I told them our kids went to a private school, among other reasons, for the purpose of social variety. The couple found it ironic, because they said parents in NYC seeking diversity for their kids chose public school over private.
People make assumptions about us because of our decision to send the boys to private school. We don't think public school isn't "good enough". We're not rich. We value kindness, intelligence and a love of learning, over a pedigree that's tossed around as a status symbol. Schools known for their excellence certainly appeal to us and we can appreciate someone's discipline and ability to achieve their educational goal. But quality education can occur many places, formally and informally. I'd love to go back in time and have a do-over with my own college experience.
One time Chris was having a business lunch with several guys and it was the part when people start sniffing around to size each other up—they shared where they went to school. Harvard, Yale, Duke, MIT—Oh, two degrees from MIT? Neato. (It is neat. Chris nor I have pedigrees.)
During the lunch when a colleague of Chris' who is intelligent, down-to-earth, and happens to have an impressive pedigree, was asked where he went to school, he very seriously answered, "Pond's Institute." Nobody got it—except Chris. Everyone nodded, oohed and ahhed.
You know, I don't care if our sons go to Oxford or The Pond's Institute, marry a Vegas Showgirl or become one. I hope they're kind, independent, want to share their lives with us, and never stop learning.