Class Divide

How do you think this neighborhood has changed?

It's like the buildings are changing.

Is it getting better? Is it getting worse? What would you say?

- Worse. - Getting better.

Worse, 'cause the buildings

are turning, like, old and dirty.

And you said it's getting better.

'Cause the builders are building the new houses.

I feel like they're trying to push

everybody out of New York City.

I don't care what color you are.

If you don't have the big dollars,

they want you out.

They want that apartment and that spot for someone else

who's bringing in those dollars.

I walk down the street now,

I don't see anything that I recognize anymore.

All of my favorite stores and shops are now gone.

When you walk down the High Line,

there are literally, like, new construction buildings every day.

It's changing so rapidly.

We're the capital of the world.

People want to live in Manhattan.

Are the people going to be moving out?

That's what happens.

I grew up on 25th Street and 9th Avenue.

There's an apartment complex on the corner now.

I don't know where... I came home from jail and it was there.

You have this school where you could send your child there

from kindergarten through 12th grade,

pay between $40,000 and $50,000 a year

for private education,

and literally across the street,

you have the Elliott-Chelsea houses

where a tremendous number of people are living in poverty.

I've noticed, like, a greater disparity

just between looking at kids across the street and Avenues

and then looking at the housing projects.

This gap is just becoming larger between the two.

Even though you may just see an avenue between each block,

it's actually much larger than that.

So, if you look out here,

you can actually see the Statue of Liberty.

So, like, right over there.

And these are, like, the other rich buildings

where other people live.

My family is poor because we live in the projects.

We don't live, like, nowhere perfect.

And my mom, she doesn't give me a lot of money...

Like, probably $2, $3

to go to the store and stuff like that.

I mean, my family is not a perfect family, you know what I'm saying?

I can't, I can't. I try being honest with you.

And you say, "Oh, Daddy, buy me this, buy me this."

I cannot, because I don't have no money, Rosa.

- You understand what's going on in... - I understand!

If I got the money, you think that I'd say no?

You don't... no, if I got the money, I'd say I'll go with you.

I mean, I don't have what I want necessarily,

but I do have, like, people that I love.

Tócala.

See?

She love you.

Who do I admire? I admire Beyoncé.

I mean, if I ever meet her, I'm gonna cry.

It's gonna be, like, so emotional for me.

I mean, Mark... I mean, if who... like your favorite singer.

Who's your favorite singer?

Billie Holiday.

You... if you meet him, right?

You would, like, faint or something, like, something...

oh, my God.

Avenues is a school that I wanted to go to,

but I couldn't because it was too much money.

Parents are more poor at my school,

and Avenues, it's, like,

people that have, like, a lot of money, you know what I'm saying?

I've seen people come to the school

and they're like, this is a spaceship.

Like, they go in the elevators, they're talking to you.

There's a cafe with coffee.

Like, it's to the extent

where it almost makes you white out everything else.

The first day, I came to Avenues

and I saw an entire line of Mercedes SUVs

outside the school just dropping kids off.

It was a little intimidating because I thought,

wow, I'm going to a school where people are, like, crazy rich.

In Vermont, I was always looked at

as the wealthiest kid in my class,

whereas here, going to Avenues,

I definitely was not.

Just being upper middle class

is something that a lot of kids have in common.

Like, they don't have enough money to have a private jet

and go to Turks and Caicos over the weekend,

which a few kids do.

Go, Avenues!

When I come to Avenues, I definitely feel like

I am the lower part of the pack.

And that's kind of odd, right, 'cause compared to the rest of the world,

I go on vacation, I go to a private school, in general.

So it's a very odd shift once I walk in the doors.

And when you live in the city

and when you're exposed to all these different walks of life,

you are able to say, okay, this is what I have.

But that's not the same case for everybody else.

When we were learning about the Titanic...

Like, first class, second class, third class, and the crew...

Like, the first class was the wealthy ones,

second class was sort of wealthy,

third class, not so good,

and crew, you just work for money.

Where would you put yourselves?

I figure I'll say at least second class

or third class.

- Joel, Miley. - Joel: Yeah?

Come, vengan. I have pizza for you.

Coming.

Seven people in a little house.

- Two rooms. - Ta-da!

Me, my baby sister,

my mom and dad sleep in one room.

And my sister sleeps in the other room,

and my grandma has to sleep outside

in the living room.

Three-sixths is one half, so...

Oh, I didn't look... oh.

- Mmm. - I got it, I got it.

So you... good.

Candida He asked me why we had to live

in that small apartment.

He asked me so many questions...

That he would like to live in better place.

That's a heartbreak.

And the thing that he tell me,

"Mommy, when I go to college, when I finish college,

I will buy you a big house, Mommy, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms."

And his dream is, like, better life.

Ricardo We used to, at one point,

build parks to escape the city.

The High Line, and one of the great strengths of High Line

is that it really opens the city up to you.

And when you go up in the High Line,

you see the city in ways

that you've never experienced before.

Real estate prices have skyrocketed.

Everybody wants to live near the High Line

and on top of the High line.

Come on, Tyler, get dressed. Go get your coat.

- What's in that dress? - Hurry up.

Are you gonna take anything to camp?

Camp.

My morning routine is the best

- with our family. - All good?

That 30 minutes that we're bonding,

we walk together as a family to school.

Look it, a beautiful day.

Be careful. Don't trip, don't trip.

I grew up very humble.

My mom assembles lamps

and my father would manage pizzeria restaurants.

I went to a public school at the time.

I didn't speak a stitch of English.

What are you doing at school today, Sophia?

What I like about Avenues

is that they really are more creative

than the traditional public school method.

Mark David Fromm: Come on, Sophia. Come on, Tyler.

When we went there, I told Chris Whittle,

I've seen your school being built.

This is my number one choice for our daughter.

We believe in this school.

- Hola. ¿Cómo estás? - Bien...

Chris For those of us in the world of schooling,

- there's an inside joke that... - Have a good one.

If you came back from the 15th century,

there are only two things you would recognize...

Your church and your school.

And recognizing your church is probably a good thing.

Recognizing your school is probably not.

Schools take a long time to change.

We think of it as the first global school.

We envision major campuses

in the great cities of the world,

20 over the next decade.

What's really special and different about the school

is that we focus on preparing children

for international life.

China becoming the world's superpower,

it may be helpful someday to know Chinese.

Instead of pressuring you

to read textbooks and study for exams,

they push you to make sure

that you're not just memorizing everything,

that you really understand what you're learning.

They kind of encourage you to be the teachers.

We learn by the Harkness method.

It's roundtable discussions.

We don't have a bunch of individual desks