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To better understand the impact of urban demographic changes with public schools, we conducted in-depth interviews with do ens of parents who participated in the !indergarten lotter" in one of the increasingl" white communit" school districts in #ew Yor! $it"% The ma&orit" of the white parents who we interviewed said one of the reasons the" live in #ew Yor! $it" is that their children will grow up in a variable varied environment% The" bemoan the degree of race segregation between and within the public schools, noting that this ma!es them uncomfortable and contradicts their sense of whom who the" are and wh" the" chose to rise rear their children in the cit"% 'espite of these intentions, when these white, affluent parents are faced mostl" with choices of raciall" segregated schools or ma&orit" white gifted education programs within otherwise diverse public schools, the" tend to ma!e decisions for their children that perpetuate these racial distinctions% (s one parent we interviewed for our larger research pro&ect noted, when "ou onl" have the choice of segregation, "ou choose segregation% )eanwhile, we learned that the vast ma&orit" of these white parents harbor a great number of an*iet" an*ieties about the school choice process, as the" worr" about their children+s futures in a highl" une,ual societ"- thus, the" choose schools deemed most .viable/ b" other parents li!e them, even if such choices contradict the value the" place on diversit" in public education 0 at least in the abstract%