Dear Prudence,
I am an educational administrator. I have had a great deal of success in turning failing schools into high-performing ones. A few years ago, I took a job in a school district in a small town in a relatively remote part of the country. It was a chance to turn around several schools at once. The teachers and administrators were open to new ideas and are making great strides, but progress has been slow. My children (who are above average in their academic and social skills, but not abnormally so) are in the school system. I can see what their participation in the schools is doing to them, and it’s killing me. My daughter is creative and sensitive. She has gone from loving learning to hating it, and cries every morning when she has to go to school. My wife wants to home-school our children. I agree that this would probably be best, but it would create a political nightmare for me because it would demonstrate the schools aren’t good enough for our kids. Do I keep my kids in school, sacrificing their curiosity, creativity, and love of learning for the sake of preserving my ability to improve the educational experience for thousands of kids? Or do I do what’s right for my own children, no matter the professional consequences? Siding with my own children is obvious, but it would likely mean I’d have to quit this job.