Learn If You Want To.

"Well, just keep this in mind," said my filmmaker friend when I discussed Wild Card School with him, "there was this dinner with the Wild Card Head of School. And the parents sang a song in parody to the tune of Old MacDonald, totally in jest to the Head of School, but the lyrics were, 'Learn If You Want To.'"

"I see," I said. My heart sank.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked.

"I do. For the parents to have collectively gotten away with that, there was an agreement that Wild Card School is not so...er...academically rigorous," I said.

"Okay, so you get it," he said.

His wife went to the Wild Card Lower School. "But I still like the school," I said. "More importantly, A likes it. I'm not going to buy into that nonsense. Anyway, it's probably a rumor started by Dalton parents. Please tell me you wouldn't prefer to send your kids to Dalton?" I asked.

"Of course not. The system at Dalton sucks," he said. "The parents at Dalton suck. And the school expects you to donate about $15,000 annually after tuition." Filmmaker friend lives in a multi-million dollar apartment on the Upper West Side. He can afford Dalton, although he insists he cannot.

"Well, you know Dalton treated me like [insert expletive for cow-poo here] during their Open House," I said.

"Of course they did. You're the charity case," he said. "Why not try Collegiate? Your A would do superbly there."

I forgot about Collegiate. JFK Jr. went to Collegiate. Is there still time to apply, I wonder? How would a homeschooler tackle the oldest private school institution in New York City, let alone the New World?

This article is in the current issue of New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/news/features/23783/index1.html
(I am still learning how to add linky thingys when using a Mac).