On a recent visit to Berkeley I received a long and detailed lecture on the benefits to students of a racially diverse educational environment (e.g., the learning of each student in a school with an all-Chinese student body would increase if some black students were mixed in and then would further increase if Latino and Native American students were added; it was unclear if there was any value to students identifying as “white”). The lecture was delivered by two parents and their daughter, a high school senior. The daughter had completely absorbed the parents’ philosophy on this subject and was in perfect accord on the merits of attending a school with a diverse mixture of students.
I asked “What are the demographics of the Berkeley Public Schools then?” They couldn’t give me a clear answer, however, because it seems that both children in their family have attended private schools at the cost of $70,000 per year (total) and a huge amount of commuting time and hassle compared to the public schools.
- Visit to Berkeley, California (2010) in which I noted the existence of an underclass despite the fact that “for roughly 60 years, Berkeley has offered more services to its residents than virtually any other city in the U.S.”