Is Allison Benedikt’s new piece in Slate, “If You Send Your Child to Private
School You are a Bad Person,” intended as a tongue-in-cheek send-up of liberal guilt or serious commentary?
My sense is that it’s the former, but you decide. Sample:
I am not an education policy wonk: I’m just judgmental. But it seems to me
that if every single parent sent every single child to public school, public
schools would improve. This would not happen immediately. It could take
generations. Your children and grandchildren might get mediocre educations in
the meantime, but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good. (Yes, rich
people might cluster. But rich people will always find a way to game the
system: That shouldn’t be an argument against an all-in approach to public
education any more than it is a case against single-payer health care.)