Birch Wathen Lenox School--Why Private Schools are Where it is At in NYC

I grew up in an area where Public Schools (American sense) were very highly valued and while people griped about the taxes they paid, they were PROUD of their schools and there was a real sense of community ( in fact, my high school,  a stuffy but richly endowed place called New Trier, was forever patting itself on the back and promoting the idea that it, and all its students were very "special" and at the top of the national ratings of public high schools, putting it on par with private schools in New England like Groton etc. ( except New Trier was happily coed). While this was an exaggeration, of course, an awful lot of New Trier seniors DID go on to schools like Harvard and all the other ones of the caliber...

Big cities usually do not generate that kind of enthusiasm for their public schools, and the politics and corruption of the places usually also wreck havoc on the schools...NYC being a good example.

When I moved to NYC in 1963, I soon found out that nobody who was anybody would even consider sending their kids to a public school ( except for a select couple in Manhattan and a few in the other Boroughs). In fact, no one who was rich would almost EVER send their kid to  a public school, it just was not done!

(NOTE: I found an exception to this was that Parochial Schools were seen as a good alternative to public schools, and in the case of many Catholic people I met, not just an alternative but a necessity! )

WORSE, when I was at Grad School I briefly dated the school's young assistant secretary...and found out that, at her "ordinary" high school in Manhattan, getting mugged (or robbed maybe I should say) in the girl's room was a fact of life.

I couldn't believe what she was saying. "How in hell would your parents put up with that?"
She looked at me uncomprehendingly. To her, being in danger in the school bathroom was NORMAL and  I was the person who was weird.

Today it is much the same if not worse...here is a small private school on the Upper East Side, Birch Wathen Lenox, which prides itself on its advantages...( NOTE: The problem is not in the lower grades--there, the professional and business people around here have no problem with the local public school--but as the kids get older. But as I have noted, most of these families will be on the move again or have worked out some other educational option for their kids..even if they have to move to the suburbs!)

To quote from the Birch Wathen Lenox mission statement

Mission Statement
	An independent, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City, Birch Wathen Lenox has forged a singular mission. The School is committed to a traditionally rigorous academic program while placing an uncommon emphasis on nurturing the individual in the community. The School strives to develop the unique potential of each student by cultivating intellectual, aesthetic and ethical excellence. The environment for learning is marked by high expectations. As preparation for social responsibility, BWL instills the values of integrity, loyalty and civility in the K through 12 experience. In addition, the BWL tradition is to build character through an abiding regard for educational inquiry, mutual respect and personal renewal.

You can see their whole website at
http://www.bwl.org/RelId/33637/ISvars/default/Home.htm 

http://www.bwl.org/RelId/33637/ISvars/default/Home.htm