School choice: peer effects and social justice

 The not-so-secret secret of building a good school is to have good students. And sometimes that can lead to conflicts between the desire to build better school systems to serve children in the aggregate, and the desire to put your child in the best school for him or her.  

A NYT columnist talks about this, writing "In New York, a combination of housing segregation and “academic” sorting, called school choice, that begins as early as pre-K means most Black students — even middle-class ones — are forced to attend racially segregated schools with high rates of poverty." (emphasis added)

In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice. By Nikole Hannah-Jones

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On a somewhat related note, when I speak to prospective PhD students who are visiting universities after being admitted to multiple PhD programs, I encourage them to talk to the graduate students already there, and discover how happy, productive, and collaborative they are.  A good PhD program is one where you learn a lot by collaborating with your fellow students in study and research.