One thing that gets me on edge immediately (Eric will tell you, many things do this, but that's not the point) is people who are oblivious to the fact that other people have different lives from them. The biggest example of this is folks who seem unaware, or at least unwilling to consider, that others aren't as well off as they are.
Call this my class-consciousness. It kinda brings me back to the days I waited tables and (mostly women) would calculate down to the penny how much each person owed on the tab. If you're friends, why squabble over pennies? More importantly, why make a big deal about money, when other people around you make much less than you do??
This is not to say Eric and I have ever wanted for anything; our parents, thankfully, have made sure of that and we literally would have nothing without them. I really need to emphasize that point. But I know the limits of our little budget and let's just say, there's no exotic trips to far-off lands any time soon. In fact, our vacations since 2005 have consisted of trips home to Oklahoma...and that's pretty much it.
My point here is to say, then, that I don't want Katie to grow up unaware and insensitive to the situation of others. Income differences are rather minor, really, but from an academic perspective, I guess this is me wanting to transfer my consciousness of my positionality to my daughter and any other children we have. It is just so vitally important to be aware of other people and our differences from each other in order to try and understand and to make the world better.
I hadn't really thought of any of this until some teacher friends who are having kids or going to have kids soon mentioned the school districts they live in. Given our nomadic lifestyle, Eric and I hadn't really thought about picking a home due to the schools. Now, we probably should because there is a chance we'll be in Dallas for awhile.
Here's my concern: if we lived in North Dallas/Plano and the surrounding areas, Katie would go to some fabulous schools...that are largely white and affluent. Yes, I have a problem with that. We'll never, ever, ever be as well-off as some folks in Plano, but I do not want Katie to be in that atmosphere and grow up thinking everyone is comfortable in their whiteness like her. But, if we land in Dallas ISD...well, that's another situation. And the plethora of private schools around here? Sorry, but I don't want my child going to any school that has no responsibility to state curriculum requirements (that are there for a reason).
I'm determined to resist the white flight. In our conversations about this, Eric and I have decided that it's our responsibility to augment her education and to be that much more involved in the event that she does end up in a weak school district. He was a teacher, he knows the ins and outs and how to make things work in a under-resourced environment and I'm pretty sure that Dallas isn't stocked full of shitty teachers. If my education and training have taught me anything, it's that the (education) system that, in this case, under-supports some while helping others that is the problem. And like any other system, we can work in and against it to make it better.
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Being a teacher in Garland, which by the way is as low income as you can get next to Dallas, I've learned that the education your child receives will depend on how much you as a parent have to put into it! We teachers have learned as you mentioned, how to deal with no monetary support in the classroom. However, we've also come to love those parents who take what we teach their children to a new level outside of the classroom, something we cannot do due to budget restraints (no more loading the kids up in parent's cars to go on field trips). I have a 100% gut feeling Katie will have no problem where ever she lands in the public education system.
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