On reflection I think my problems with your example are twofold. Firstly we have a very similar problem with white middle class parents taking their children out of state schools in London but from my perspective this is not an issue that gets swept under the carpet but is continually brought up by commentators and campaigners. On this issue what I see is not a society keeping tacit silence but a diverse community with potential for change. Democracy is dynamic.

Secondly, but not unrelated, in my country (and I suspect in Ottawa too) the rich opting out of state education is a (predictable) side effect of legislation brought in by people voting not for the right to racially/class segregate schools but for the much vaguer concept of ‘parental choice.’ The opting out phenomenon therefore seems to me to reflect the traits of the parents who choose private (and effectively segregated) education not those of the society as a whole.