<p>IMHO, being wealthy is one thing (private schools have lots of wealthy parents), but conspicuous wealth displays and children who define themselves by their parents wealth/prestige are very destructive for both the child and for the health of the school learning environment. I think that schools that explicitly trade on notions of wealth and exclusivity, such as Avenues and Leman, have neither. The fastest way to not get into HADES schools is to come off as one who is enjoys being elite, flaunts their wealth, and lacks humility. BTW, this is a fundamental problem that many in NYC seem to have. We used to live there and just had to get out because parents there are just too over the top. This is not a generalization – in NYC affluent parents who adopt a low key, let things evolve naturally, let the kids occasionally fail approach are so few and far between as to be viewed as oddities and are actually shunned.</p>