Nice White Parents

Serial Productions & The New York Times

If you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: white parents. A five-part series from the makers of Serial and The New York Times. Hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt. read less

Our Editor's Take

The Nice White Parents podcast talks about public education problems. The title comes from who the series perceives as doing the most to shape the schools. The story of the podcast goes back to 1963. During that time, a school was about to open next to a housing project in New York City. Opening it there meant that most students would be either Puerto Rican or Black. But a group of parents, who were also white, insisted on changing the location. Instead, they suggested building the school closer to a white neighborhood. They explained that they wanted their white kids to mix with everyone else to avoid segregation.

The parents sounded adamant in this stance. They lobbied in city meetings and wrote heartfelt letters. In those letters, they said they don't want their kids to be a part of a "small white middle-income clique." The Board of Education heard their concerns and agreed. A few years later, the school opened. But not one of the parents from the letters sent their children to study there. Could this be the origin of the issues students face in the public education system? The podcast Nice White Parents examines this topic.

Podcast host Chana Joffe-Walt has written about the public school system for years. The New York Times journalist has reported on the many reforms trying to address educational inequalities. The reforms included anything from standardized tests to charter schools. They explored smaller classes, stricter discipline, and tracking differentiation. They always looked at who the system was failing, which were Black and Brown kids. The reforms asked why these kids were underperforming. But those are not the right questions.

Things became a little clearer when Joffe-Walt was looking for a school for her son. During school tours, she noticed her experience of segregation. While all the parents touring were white, it was mostly students of color in the classrooms. The podcast Nice White Parents examines the influence this has on the school system. Across five episodes, the journalist unravels the story. Listeners wanting to know more about public education may appreciate this series.

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Play Trailer

Introducing: Nice White Parents

Introducing: Nice White Parents

If you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: White parents. A five-part series from Serial Productions, a New York Times Company. Hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt.For more information about this show, visit nytimes.com/nicewhiteparents

Episodes

Introducing: Nice White Parents

Introducing: Nice White Parents

If you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: White parents. A five-part series from Serial Productions, a New York Times Company. Hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt.For more information about this show, visit nytimes.com/nicewhiteparents

1: The Book of Statuses

1: The Book of Statuses

It’s 2015 and one Brooklyn middle school is about to receive a huge influx of new students.In this episode, Chana Joffe-Walt, a reporter, follows what happens when the School of International Studies’ 6th grade class swells from 30 mostly Latino, Black and Middle Eastern students, to 103 — an influx almost entirely driven by white families.Everyone wants “what’s best for the school” but it becomes clear that they don’t share the same vision of what “best” means.For more information about this show, visit nytimes.com/nicewhiteparents

2: 'I Still Believe in It'

2: 'I Still Believe in It'

Chana Joffe-Walt searches the New York City Board of Education archives for more information about the School for International Studies, which was originally called I.S. 293.In the process, she finds a folder of letters written in 1963 by mostly white families in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. They are asking for the board to change the proposed construction of the school to a site where it would be more likely to be racially integrated.It’s less than a decade after Brown v. Board of Education, amid a growing civil rights movement, and the white parents writing letters are emphatic that they want an integrated school. They get their way and the school site changes — but after that, nothing else goes as planned.For more information about this show, visit nytimes.com/nicewhiteparents

3: ‘This Is Our School, How Dare You?’

3: ‘This Is Our School, How Dare You?’

Chana Joffe-Walt explores how white parents can shape a school — even when they aren’t there.She traces the history of I.S. 293, now the Boerum Hill School for International Studies, from the 1980s through the modern education reforms of the 2000s. In the process, Chana talks to alumni who loved their school and never questioned why it was on the edge of a white neighborhood. To them, it was just where everyone went. But she also speaks to some who watched the school change over the years and questioned whether a local community school board was secretly plotting against 293.

4: 'Here’s Another Fun Thing You Can Do'

4: 'Here’s Another Fun Thing You Can Do'

Public schools are inequitable because the school systems are maniacally loyal to white families. We can’t have equitable public education unless schools limit the disproportionate power of white parents. But is that even possible? Chana finds two schools that are trying to do just that, and both are actually inside the 293 building. One is downstairs in the basement, where a charter school called Success Academy opened about 7 years ago. The other is upstairs at BHS, the newly renamed SIS.

5: ‘We Know It When We See It’

5: ‘We Know It When We See It’

This episode contains strong language.Chana has traced the history of the school from its founding and come to the present. But now: One unexpected last chapter. Last year, the school district for BHS mandated a change in the zoning process to ensure all of middle schools will be racially integrated. No longer can white families hoard resources in a few select schools. Black and Latino parents have been demanding this change since the late 1950s. The courts have mandated it. Chana asks: How did this happen? And is this a blueprint for real, systemic change?

The Trojan Horse Affair - Trailer

The Trojan Horse Affair - Trailer

A mysterious letter detailing a supposed Islamist plot to take over schools shocked Britain in 2014. But who wrote it? From Serial Productions and The New York Times, “The Trojan Horse Affair,” an investigation that became bigger than we ever imagined. All eight parts are available now, wherever you get your podcasts.