Families Are Uprooting In Search Of The Perfect School

Changes in technology -- and many parents' obsessive search for the perfect school -- are enabling families to move further afield to access quality education.

1 minute read

February 22, 2007, 9:00 AM PST

By Alex Pearlstein


"Across the country, a small but growing number of parents...are dramatically altering their families' lives to pursue the perfect private school for their children. While past generations of parents might have shifted addresses within a town to be near a particular school, or shipped junior off to boarding school, these parents are choosing school first, location second."

"The phenomenon is driven by rapid changes in technology, which give many parents geographic latitude with their jobs. The Internet has created a national marketplace for schools, with troves of information on most any school in the country, and even particular administrators, available within a few clicks."

"Parents are also looking to schools to provide a source of values and community for their children, replacing neighborhoods, churches or workplaces, educators say."

"Parents argue that with today's flexible, and more uncertain, labor market, moving for school makes more sense than it did in an earlier era, when families usually moved for work."

[Editor's note: Although this article is only available to WSJ subscribers, it is available to Planetizen readers for free through the link below for a period of seven days.]

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 in The Wall Street Journal

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