It’s interesting reading this as someone who came to DC in 2007 to serve (and admittedly to have good health insurance), and now I’m raising my kids in this ethos. The world of St. Albans though is so entirely alien to me still…
I mean growing up around smart people who valued national service was *hugely* formative for me. If I were still there, however, I'm not sure I would send my kid to the school I attended, even if I could afford it.
We’re holding a pretty strong line about the need for our kids to be in public schools when we’re stationed domestically. Overseas they’re in fancy high-price schools… let DCPS remind them they aren’t special or elite.
But yeah - I’m 40 years old and accomplished/respected at my career, and I still struggle with feeling Less Than as a professional who didn’t have those types of socioeconomic advantages like some of my peers.
Schaffer should correct his first sentence: "Michael Abramowitz and James Boasberg both grew up as children of Washington notables, becoming friends at Saint Albans, the venerable prep school where the local elite has long educated its [kids] SONS." It's still boys-only.
It is also worth saying that Washington got a lot, lot richer in the mid 90s as defense, tech and lobbying exploded. That fundamentally changed a lot of things about the city (constant fundraising, gentrification of longtime Black neighborhoods).
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