To the best of my ability to determine the only president to have sent his children to a public high school was Gerald Ford. It was a pretty nice high school in Alexandria, Virginia but it was a public high school.
I honestly don’t know how politicians get away with preaching equality on the one hand while practicing elitism on the other. In a less docile and gullible society politicians who preach the virtues of the public schools while sending their own kids to private ones would, at the very least, be booed off the stage. Or, preferably, tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.
Once upon a time we had two great social levelers: public education and universal male military service. Now too frequently both are thought of as welfare, just for the poor.
Update
I stand corrected (in comments). George W. Bush’s daughters also attended public high school. I appreciate the correction. That actually makes my point even better.
You are incorrect. George W. Bush’s daughters both went to Austin High School in Austin, Texas, which is a public high school.
Didn’t Amy Carter go to public schools, before, during and after the presidency? If memory serves it was seen as quite disruptive at the time.
Steve
Also, Chelsea went to public schools until they moved to DC. The Bush girls had a couple of years at a non-public school.
Steve
I’m pretty sure that Amy Carter attended Sidwell when they were in DC as did Chelsea Clinton during her father’s presidency.
“I honestly don’t know how politicians get away with preaching equality on the one hand while practicing elitism on the other.”
Politics as a sporting event, that’s how.
“Amy Carter stayed in public schools in Washington throughout her four years in Washington. First she went to Stevens Elementary and then to Hardy Middle, also a predominantly black school.”
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-01-07/news/1993007068_1_public-schools-sidwell-friends-amy
As the article goes on to point out, liberal House and Senate Democrats that consistantly voted for bussing and race-conscious educational policies in the 1970s, did not send their kids to public city schools. (The author can only think of Scoop Jackson as an exception. I think there is actually a study on this issue.)
It’s mute on where she attended high school. though.