Why might a family who can afford private school send their children to public school?

Well, I know a number of parents who have done this, and it's usually because they fear a private education might be too elitist and result in materialism, snobbery, and a sense of entitlement.

However, they've generally been fortunate to live in areas with excellent public schools. These are often largely white, affluent suburbs. I used to live in Princeton, NJ, home of Princeton University, a number of corporate headquarters, and a lot of prominent people. There are private schools in the area, but a lot of even very affluent parents there feel perfectly comfortable sending their kids to the public schools. If they lived in a major urban center, they would probably go private, though the city I live in boasts some excellent and very selective public magnet schools.

I sent my kids to public school, even though I am sure we could have afforded private school if that was important to us.

I went ONLY to private school - in elementary school, high school, and college. I never attended a public institution until I went to grad school. I didn't want that for my children. I wanted them to go to school with kids who were different from them.

I eventually became a public school teacher, and that made me even more convinced of the important place public school has in society. I'm so glad my kids went to public school, but I'm also glad that there were good public schools to send them to. That's not always the case.

But, while there are bad public schools, you should know that there are bad private schools as well! I have seen many kids enter pubic school after a bad experience in private school. Many of hose kids were able to thrive in a public school setting.

There are excellent public schools and terrible public schools. But there are also excellent private schools and terrible private schools as well.

expose them to the outside world