School choice has the potential to impact a child’s life more so than almost any other factor. And for many parents, decisions about where to enroll are fraught with fear and anxiety. The positive role of cross-class friendships is the subject of “Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School.” Author Courtney Martin joins WITHpod to discuss writing the memoir and her journey moving from Brooklyn to enrolling her daughter in a local school down the street from her home in an Oakland co-housing community. She also talks about navigating school choice, why public schools are the “foundation of our fragile democracy,” and why these decisions provide a powerful starting point for effecting change in the trajectory of children.