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[quote=Anonymous]The Andover one was excellent and one I could relate to. My mother taught English at a top private school and I was able to attend for half-tuition. The student parking lot had Mercedes, Stingray Corvettes, even a Delorean. Debutante balls and European vacations were a way of life among most families. We drove an Oldsmobile and visited relatives once a year.

Our family had three students in Ivies/Seven Sisters, and one more on her way to a SLAC, plus a younger sibling with me at home. My mother taught at the private school, plus community college two nights a week and all summer long, as well as tutored and proctored for SAT exams. As our siblings moved on to their adult lives, my parents took in international boarding students attending our school who could not be accommodated in the dormitory.

When I would meet kids from my neighborhood or working at my job at the mall, they asked if I went to the big public HS. When I told them where I actually went, they dismissed me about being "rich" and going to a "fancy" school. I didn't fit in at my private school, and I didn't fit in with neighbor kids. It was so painful.

I poured myself into my studies and every opportunity the school offered, and I got a fantastic education and footing for a meaningful career in public service.

I donate every year to the school scholarship fund that supports faculty children. Even at half-price, many teachers could not afford to give their own children the outstanding education they themselves provided to the children of doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs.

I did an alumni interview for a senior at a private girls' school who was offered early admission to my top university who had been caring for her disabled father since the age of 8 while her mother worked 60 hours a week as a cashier at a parking garage. She will be an asset to the university's dorms, discussion groups and campus activities. It's heartening to see young adults with such circumspection on the role of wealth, work, privilege and opportunity.[/quote]

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