Amy P sent me a link to a post on Joanne Jacobs that brings together two of my favorite topics — gentrification and parental involvement in schools. 

P.S. 84 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was a Latino dominated school for many years, until the hipsters arrived and started having babies. They started sending their kids to the local school and now, their kids comprise nearly half of the pre-K and Kindergarten classes. 

The white gentrifiers have offended the long time parents by criticizing the school and teachers (the test scores are extremely low) and by questioning long term practices like selling ice-cream to the Pre-K kids and by wanting to get rid of the Three Kings Day parade. 

In some ways, this story is a unique Brooklyn tale. The white parents believe the Three Kings Day parade is a religious event that will make their non-Christian children feel out of place and is a violation of the separation of church and state. The Latinos believe that the Three Kings Day parade is a cultural event that celebrates their heritage. In this case, the white parents should have lightened up a bit.

Other aspects of this story are class-based, and I've seen it before in entirely white towns. The long time parents have bonded with the teachers at the school. They are less concerned about test scores, because they have a different priority in schools than the newer parents; they want a school where their kids are safe and accepted. They think that the middle-class parents are pushy, entitled, and rude. 

Then there are all the resentments that gentrification stirs up. The Latinos are certainly concerned that the rich folks are coming into town and telling the long term residents what to do and will ultimately take their apartments and expose the bricks and push them out. 

Homophily is the tendency for people to bond with people like themselves. I think it is an unfortunate human characteristic, because ultimately I think we learn more from being around people who are different from us. I hope these folks can work it out and find a middle ground.