Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones reflects on decision to enroll daughter in low-income Brooklyn schools
Nikole Hannah-Jones said she placed her daughter in under-resourced public schools to support systemic change, but now acknowledges the choice left the child academically behind.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist known for the 1619 Project, wrote in a Times Magazine essay that she enrolled her daughter, Najya, in two low-income Brooklyn public schools beginning in 2015 as a deliberate experiment to improve those schools and encourage other families to do the same. Despite her own financial means and connections, she chose schools where 56% to 69% of students are Black and where state test-score performance lags behind city averages.
Hannah-Jones said the decision was driven by a belief that “families like ours” could help raise overall educational quality. She later described the outcome as disappointing, noting that Najya entered high school lacking basic skills and required intensive tutoring to catch up.
"So you had money to send me to one of the best schools, and you chose not to?" Najya reportedly asked during a confrontation, expressing frustration that her education had been sacrificed for a broader cause.
"I feel like you got cheated," Hannah-Jones replied, acknowledging her daughter's sense of being let down.
The essay details that at PS 307 and Urban Assembly Unison, the schools attended by Najya, a significant share of students did not meet state standards in English and other subjects, and many had special-needs classifications. Hannah-Jones said teachers often failed to grade assignments, leaving her daughter unaware of her academic deficiencies.
After Najya was allowed to transfer to a more rigorous high school, the gap in foundational knowledge became evident, prompting Hannah-Jones to question the effectiveness of her earlier convictions. She concluded that while her intentions were rooted in collective responsibility, the personal cost to her child was a failure of both her values and parental duty.
Reactions to the essay have been mixed, with some commentators criticizing the decision as an imprudent sacrifice and others praising the attempt to align personal actions with broader social goals.