Even in "rich upperclass white areas", the public school education is a failure for many.
This is because the classrooms are too crowded, the teachers are overworked and underpaid, and probably understimulated (how much flexibility do the states give them in creating their lesson plans? I'm not really sure). The kids are herded around and treated like animals. Add on the schools' "zero tolerance" for...ANYTHING policy.
My best girlfriend was in GT/AP classes (at public school) and in 12th grade, she skipped a lot of school (to go to the beach, amusement parks, ect...). Due to poor attendence, her English teacher failed her, despite the fact that she had done all her assignments had like 90% grade in class. She couldn't graduate w/ her class, and her parents were so upset, they refused to pay for her college. She ended up moving out and living with her boyfriend, going to community college and having a baby a year or so later.
Around the same time, I was at a private boarding school, where the teachers were old hippies or european or whatever, and our grades were based on the work we turned in, not on our attendence. These teachers were rather progressive, and missing a few classes never tantamounted to much, unless you were skipping classes AND not handing in any work, in which case you might get one hour detention, to be served at your convenience, for one hour before the school day (pick a day, any day, get your breakfast bagel and coffee, go sign in at the library and spend an hour reading or talking or whatever) I know some girls who never went to phys. ed. class AT ALL during some semesters, but still passed with a B. (phys ed class could be horseback riding lessons, skiing, or weightlifting, the latter being the class said girl never went to. Perhaps no one realized she was on the roster. Who knows. Anyway, she passed, despite being out shopping off-campus every after noon, when she was sopposed to be at wieght lifting.
But in any event, at boarding school we were treated with respect. Staff took it easy on us and we took it easy on them. And the classes were a lot smaller, and there was much flexibility in choosing your schedule, and many teachers lived on campus and we actually had one class period called "extra help", where you could go see any teacher; if you didn't need "extra help", you could hang in your room, or to the smoking lounge or whatever.
Actually, I kind of miss boarding school.
