Is Hope Contagious?

Yesterday at Chinese class, the little four-year old sitting next to us was wearing a private school nametag. And she wouldn't take it off, so proud was she of her name emblazoned in marker on the white sticker, with the brand name of the prestitigous school elegantly inscribed at the top. Her dad kept asking her to take it off--because, well, we wouldn't want to gloat, now would we?--but she refused. She's four; she gets it. What's the point of going to one of those schools if you don't let everyone know?

I've been following the lifestyle pages' reports of where the Obamas will be sending their little girls--which tony Washington private school will be able to boast of their enrollment? Georgetown Day? Sidwell? Why do I even know the name of that school? Oh, wait, that's where Chelsea Clinton went. It comes at a time when my friend who is moving to sub-suburban (i.e. not near Atlanta) Georgia is researching schools and tells me that my town's schools get lower grades on the website than those in her new part of the world, which I find great for her and depressing for us (given that we are in one of the richest states in the nation).

But I found hope it the pages of the NYTimes this morning, on Sandra Tsing Loh's blog; she's one of the education writers. And she too is contemplating schools, public policy (or lack thereof), and the Obamas. Her kids go to school in L.A. where budgets and bureaucracy are depressing. But she finds hope in the coming era, even for oft-ignored education, which has taken an even further backseat during this economic crisis. She writes:

"The time is perfect for an American renaissance revivifying this most Jeffersonian of ideals — quality public education, available for all — where an educated citizenry is the heart of a thriving democracy. . . . With any luck, in the next generation, the meritocratic dream conveyed in the ascension of Barack Obama will not hinge on a lucky jaunt at the Punahou School but will be entwined in a narrative that reflects the triumph of public school, a fought-for hearth in which burns the essential goodness, fair-mindedness and optimism of America."

I hope so. We desperately need it. But at least for now, my kiddos marched off to school this morning proud to be seen in their matching school logo shirts.