--- description: Find out why "Nice White Parents" is on TIME's list of the 100 best podcasts of all time. title: 'Nice White Parents' Is on The 100 Best Podcasts of All Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace82066a18244f2/6998c881e2d64b9557c5f88b/Best-Podcasts-2025-Nice-White-Parents-062.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 23, 2025 # Nice White Parents A plight in public schools by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/) ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent  **_Society_** Serial Productions’ and the New York _Times’_ deep dive into the New York City Public school system, [among the most segregated](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/nyregion/school-segregation-new-york.html "undefined") in the country, has stuck with me for years since I first listened to the podcast. Host (and _This American Life_ alum) Chana Joffe-Walt demonstrates how much power even the most well-intentioned white parents wield in the public school system, often to the benefit of their own children and the detriment of BIPOC students. [The first episode](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-the-book-of-statuses/id1524080195?i=1000486589125 "undefined") invites listeners to a fundraising gala for a Brooklyn school’s dual-language French program that only the richest parents seem to want. Not all the parents can afford to attend the lavish event. Joffe-Walt, a white parent in the New York City school system herself, paints a complicated portrait of the privileged parents who bring resources to schools, then co-opt them from the children who need them most. Inevitably, parents, teachers, and administrators squabble over how to reach the lofty goal of an equitable education. It feels like an intractable problem, but the show should be mandatory listening for anyone concerned about their children’s education and how wealth gaps in our school system will impact the next generation. 'Nice White Parents': 100 Best Podcasts ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303101/nice-white-parents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303101/nice-white-parents/"},"headline":"Nice White Parents","datePublished":"2025-07-23T11:17:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:52:26.438Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303101/nice-white-parents/","keywords":["podcasts","list","Podcast","Special Project"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace82066a18244f2/6998c881e2d64b9557c5f88b/Best-Podcasts-2025-Nice-White-Parents-062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"creator":"Eliana Dockterman","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace82066a18244f2/6998c881e2d64b9557c5f88b/Best-Podcasts-2025-Nice-White-Parents-062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/podcasts/","name":"podcasts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303101/nice-white-parents/","name":"Nice White Parents"}}]}] ```