“Parents Care Deeply about Their Kids’ Education, but Perhaps Not so Deeply about the Education of Other People’s Kids”

Abstract Parents make choices about their children’s education within a neoliberal, racist system. Measurable metrics are used to evaluate school quality within a competitive, market-based system, yet those indicators often do not align with parents’ definitions of a good school, and they obscure the role of race. This paper examines how white, privileged parents understand school quality and justify their educational decisions, illuminating how white parents subtly reinforce racial and socio-economic hierarchies.