I heart New York: Shenanigans Edition

Dunya_preschoolNot to call too loud of a shenanigans on my colleague, Nathan, but New York as a great place to raise kids? Hmm. Maybe. I mean there are marijuana delivery services, hot and cold running hookers, and this guy. So what’s not to love?

Well how about this: Universal pre-k. What does that term, universal, connote for you? Perhaps, oh, I don’t know, like everyone gets it? Maybe? Kinda?

No.

Universal pre-k is not universal. Or I should say, it’s only universal in places where it is. Other places it’s done by lottery. Or first come first serve. Except in the places that don’t have it at all..

Here’s the worst part. You can’t even apply for pre-K (apply!), until several months after the deadlines for enrolling at the private preschools.

What does that mean? Well, basically, even if JP gets a universal pre-K spot, I’ll be paying his current preschool (which I love, mind you) some $5,000 or more to ensure that if he doesn’t get a universal (shenanigans!) pre-K spot in the public school that he will still have somewhere to go.

God Bless Suburbia (spoken as someone who grew up here and will never leave).

Published by Theodore

Theodore Ross is an editor of Harper’s Magazine. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, Saveur, Tin House, the Mississippi Review, and (of course), the Vietnam News. He grew up in New York City by way of Gulfport, MS, and as a teen played the evil Nazi, Toht, in Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. He lives with his son, J.P. in Brooklyn, and is currently working on a book about Crypto-Jews.

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