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I've got the same problem, to a lesser degree. I live in posh Montgomery County, Maryland, which is one of the collar counties of Washington DC. The liberal government here decided, some years ago, to inflict upon the residents a social experiment: they mandated that any development with more than 65 housing units had to have "moderate income" housing. For "moderate-income" read "welfare recipients." This means that our subdivision, which has both middle-income and doctor-lawyer neighborhoods, also has many residents who are crackheads or are too drunk to send their children to the neighborhood school in the morning.

More and more white families are trying to send their kids to private schools instead of the fine new community school, but there really aren't many private schools around here--it's a bloody long commute to a private school in the morning, even if you can afford it. If you can't come up with an extra $50,000 per year to send two children to private school, like me, your kids will not have many friends in the public school.

My son, now finishing fifth grade in an increasingly dark neighborhood school, adores the school and his teachers but hasn't made many friends. The friends he's made have been black, not Hispanic. The black kids are Americans and share our values and interests. The Hispanic kids try to beat him up because his hair is blonde and his eyes are blue. Some of the kids are very nice, but again, as in the article, we just don't have much in common. My kid rides horses and does historic reenacting for a hobby and lives in a house full of antiques; his parents are an editor and a scientist. What's he going to have in common with these unfortunate children, some of whom live in shocking filth? They resent him, and I don't blame them. When we try to reach out to them they steal from us.

Reading articles like this make me thankful I live in rural s/w Missouri. The population is low enough here that I know, personally, just about anyone who has lived in the county for over about 5 years. Thus my son is not nearly so dependent upon being in this school in order to have numerous buddies who are. It is also a small enough community that I know the Sheriff, deputies, Prosecutor, judges, Public School administrators, and my own kids school staff, on a first name basis. Things have been changing here for the worse for several years, especially in the schools as well as local crime rate, as Tyson's brings more and more Mexicans into the county to do jobs that Americans are not willing to do.. at 1975 wage rates.

Sorry, what I meant to say instead of "Reading articles like these" and meant to say "Reading posts such as yours".

More and more white families are trying to send their kids to private schools instead of the fine new community school, but there really aren't many private schools around here--it's a bloody long commute to a private school in the morning, even if you can afford it.

That's the problem I've always seen with vouchers. It's at least 45 minutes to the nearest good private school from here; probably longer during morning rush hour. Then it's another 45 minutes or so back to get to work. Either the children are at school too early, or you're late to work, and before you've put in 8 hours, it's time to leave to pick up the kids.

Many low income parents depend on public transportation and wouldn't be able to get their children to school easily or pick them up if they were sick.

I'm sure it would work for some, but it's not The Answer, nor is homeschooling.