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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Yep. I grew up in Vancouver and live in Victoria now (other major city in BC). The way that the education system works in the US blows my mind. The system is totally fucked and just furthering the divide between the classes. The amount of time and energy that parents dedicate to stressing over what school their child goes to is bizarre. I have met 3 people in my life who went to private school, and they were religious schools.

After a few years of reading DCUM and reading blogs written by American moms with school aged children, I can say unequivocally that the Canadian school system is superior. You send your child to whatever public school you are zoned for, you don't have to wait in line to apply, you don't have to deal with testing your 3 year old or whatever people have to do to get in to elementary schools, and we all end up smart  the system works.[/quote]

For the most part, in most of the United States that's how it works too.  The obsession about schools, magnets, AAP, private school, charters, school districts, etc. is almost entirely an urban upper middle class phenomenon.  Many Americans would agree with you that you just send your kids to the school you are zoned to, and plenty of people don't stress the way people on this forum do.  People who frequent parenting boards overrepresent the degree to which this exists in the US. There are certainly many areas where there are far fewer choices for private schools, and there would be people who have met very few people attending them.  My in-laws, for example, think that testing three year olds for elementary schools are ridiculous, and none of their kids have attended preschool.  They didn't research school districts before choosing where to live.

I think the reason this exists so much among upper middle class parents is the chasm between upper middle class and working class is so huge.  There is a long way to fall--and it impacts you in just about every way.  Whether or not your kid gets a good education, whether or not you can get adequate healthcare, whether or not you can afford childcare, whether or not you can afford healthy food or a safe neighborhood or save for retirement.  Most of the lower middle class/working class can't afford all of this...they are one operation away from bankruptcy, or they will work until they are ill enough to go on disability, or their kids will have to attend schools that barely meet state standards.  In Canada, there is a larger social safety net, so if you don't make as much money, there isn't as far to fall.[/quote]

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