• PigPoopBallsDotJPG [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It sounds so silly. Over here in NL where you live doesn't even really have any bearing on what school your kids can go to. Many people choose one close by out of convenience, but you're free to send them wherever.

    • Phillipkdink [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Isn't your ability to send kids to far-away schools a function of wealth?

      • Invidiarum [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Don't know about NL, but it is quite common in europe to have free or heavily subsidized public transit for schoolkids, so you usually have a few schools to choose from. The question would be more aboute private or boarding schools, but not all education systems are quite as stratified like the british, so the quality of education doesn't vary as much between public and private school. Also it tends to be more of a thing for the uber-elite, fairly well off people are fine with public schools.

        Of course there is class based discrimination, but this is based more on a class-race intersection and teachers behaviour (and a more complicated topic and I'm running out of effort for this post)

      • PigPoopBallsDotJPG [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Nobody is going to commit themselves to having to drop off their kids by car every day to make it to elementary school. "Far away" is generally still going to be "they'll have to take the bike when they're old enough". Most instances of school choice are either about parents being picky about the type of education and going for something like Montessori, or a school with a higher focus on the arts. Which is more about middle class hipsterism than race.

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Boarding schools have been a thing among the ultra-wealth for centuries.

          • PigPoopBallsDotJPG [none/use name]
            ·
            3 years ago

            There are expensive private schools here, but very small numbers. Like 18 across the whole country for primary education, you can look them up here. Visibly upperclass twats are not that prevalent, our Calvinistic roots are showing there, it's okay to be filthy rich but you're supposed to hide your power levels a bit. Most of the upper class send their kids to regular schools.

    • Duckduck [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      but you’re free to send them wherever.

      That's openly racist. If given free choice whites will cluster their kids together in all-white schools. There was a big Supreme Court decision in the 70s that made this illegal.

      • PigPoopBallsDotJPG [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I don't think there's such a thing as an 'all-white school' here. You'll find some geographical clustering of immigrant populations, and consequently inner city schools may have a higher grade of diversity than an elementary school in some kind of podunk town, but as far as I've ever seen never to the point that there were no white kids in inner city schools, and even in the smaller municipalities (like my own town that houses under 5000 people) the make-up of the school population is definitely not 'all-white' either.

        Not saying that there's no racism here, way too many liberals for there not to be. But school choice as a tool for white flight is not really how that worked out here.

        • Duckduck [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I don’t think there’s such a thing as an ‘all-white school’ here.

          Because the Supreme Court made it illegal. Please try to follow along.

                • Duckduck [none/use name]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 years ago

                  Then how are they going to have racially integrated schools? Whites certainly won't do it voluntarily. How is the black population supposed to get a good education if they're all segregated into ghetto schools with high crime and poor teachers?

                  • PigPoopBallsDotJPG [none/use name]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    Just to blow your mind further, even the most racially diverse inner city schools here don't have:

                    • metal detactors
                    • police officers
                    • underpaid teachers
                  • PigPoopBallsDotJPG [none/use name]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    By not having an insane education system in the first place. There are no 'ghetto schools' to begin with, and extra funds are allocated to any school with lots of immigrants who need extra attention.

                    Doesn't mean we don't have any racism, unfortunately. But that racism isn't being reinforced by the education system like in the US.

      • NaturalsNotInIt [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Plenty of places in America let you send your kid wherever you want, and at least where I grew up it was mostly kids of color choosing to go to the "better" suburban schools, not white kids clustering. It actually was a problem more for the kids who didn't have transport out to the suburbs because it created a brain drain effect.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        If given free choice whites will cluster their kids together in all-white schools.

        They do that under every system.