Oct 5, 2018, 12:26 PM
(from Harvard EdCast) Rates of enrollment at private schools are declining, and — like public schools — those schools are becoming increasingly segregated by income, according to the latest research from Stanford and Harvard scholars. They found that that between 1975 and 2010, the very affluent family’s income has increased by 57 percent whereas middle-income families' has increased by only 19 percent. As a result, it is far more likely that affluent families are able to send their children to private schools, where the average cost of tuition was $10,490 in 2011. One in six high-income families sends their child to private school, with almost half sending their children to an elite, non-sectarian school. “Who goes to private schools in the U.S. matters because it influences the extent to which American children interact at school with children from different backgrounds,” said one Harvard professor. “Such interactions are important for creating the tolerance and understanding critical to a healthy civil society.”
Listen to the latest episode of the Net Assets podcast.
