FFX vs Arlington County Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really think that if you picked up your family from Langley and moved to the South Lakes district that your children's chances of current and future happiness and success would be materially affected? Are your children really so fragile? Do you have so little confidence in their innate abilities and the home life and environment you provide?

Not necessarily, although it is telling that, when part of Madison got moved to South Lakes a few years ago, home values in those neighborhoods declined sharply. Had students been moved from Langley to South Lakes, the reaction presumably would have been similar.
It tells you that, despite your rhetoric, parents do assign considerable value to sending their kids to schools such as Madison and Langley with larger cohorts of higher-achieving students.

But the more salient point here is that purported data on college admissions at a handful of schools in a particular year is not especially instructive as to school quality. If the other poster wants to argue that W-L is equal or superior to schools in FCPS, he or she ought to cone up with something more persuasive.

Peer effects are huge, especially in high school. Any parent who really thinks they have that much influence that school quality doesn't matter, that the expectations that their peers and peers's parents hold don't matter, are delusional.

On a similar 1% note, from someone probably in the 10%, and who grew up somewhere way down (just sold our 30 yr old family home for 50k, so DC and Northeast are a completely different word), having relationships and contacts into an entire 4+ cohort of people who will likely attend world class colleges, head companies, start companies, or be appointed to run think tanks or foundations, there are real limitations to the opportunities your child will have later in life. And with the growing inequality, and the necessity of 'knowing' someone to get that job or secure that funding, sadly 'friends from high school' could really reflect a divergence in their life's path.

Oh for goodness sake. I'm in the 10% too, but grew up solidly middle class (daughter of a teacher and a nurse) in a blue collar town. Only about half my high school class went on to higher education, and that included community and technical colleges. I went to a highly ranked state college and a middling state university for grad school. I graduated from college in the late 80s, terrible job market. Somehow I managed. Our children will not need to rub elbows with CEOs and hedge fund managers to have comfortable and satisfying lives. Get a grip.

Not to turn this into a generational feud, but you are a late baby boomer who lived through a golden age and was ramping up your career in the 90s. You probably bought your first house before any hint of the bubble and boom

For gen x and y, things are way different ; housing costs make for ridiculous compromises (middle class in most major cities translates into hour plus commutes or crappy schools; look at DC, San Francisco, NYC). You can say live in cheaper places, but there are no jobs in the cheaper places

The last fifteen years we've had massive escalation of cost of living but a decline in wages and employment; the economy is bifurcating, probably as bad as in the 20s.

Every edge counts, and the high school cohort you send your kid too sadly has way too much importance on where they land on this economic divide.

This was not the first bubble/boom that burst. People who bought in this area in the late 80's and early 90's did not see any gain in their house value for nearly a decade. THe boom was in the mid to late 80's and then it went down ~20% and stayed there until 1997/98. We sold our first house, that we owned for 8+ years, at a loss - in Arlington- Westover area. There will be another boom and bust in your working lifetime- at least one. Yes, our current house has triple in value since we purchased it, but we have also put quite a bit of money into it. Our money has doubled- but over a 25 year period- hardly a huge jump- especially considering what the stock market has done in that time.

There was also a boom bust in the later 70's into the early 80's. You have to think in terms of multiple decades with house purchases- and don't think of them as investments.

True, there have been regional bubbles before. Look at Florida and its endless cycle.

But for Gen X and Y, the cost of housing (buying and renting) vs income is unprecedentedly high in post war America.

Mate your house value went down, but I am sure you income went up, even after inflation. Our generation has suffered this squeeze, and it looks like it will be worse for our kids as the developing world basically provides and endless supply of labor for manufacturing, engineering, even law and doctors from India.

Welcome to the new gilded age, and make sure you arm your children with every possible advantage.

I have heard the same song and dance every 10-15 years. "This generation has it the worst, this generation has o deal with aging parents and children at the same time, this generation has to save more......." It is called life.

Yes, you had it rough. You went through the Great Recession and were the first generation to see a decline in income since World War II.

Oh wait, that is gen x and gen y.

Coupled with a soul crushing housing bubble proper up in perpetuity by the fed.

You go ahead and pat yourself on the back for how successful you were all on your own.

Our kids will probably have it worse...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your info is wrong. Yorktown is an 8 on GS, W-L is a 5, and Wakefield is a 4. Schools with GS ratings of 5 rarely have a "great reputation" within or outside an entire jurisdiction. They may have a lot of boosters, which is good, but a different thing.

And housing prices are definitely lower in the South Lakes district than in adjacent parts of the Madison and Marshall districts. You could chalk some of that up to location, but homes in the Madison district literally declined tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in value when they were reassigned to South Lakes a few years ago. We'll see if the same thing happens in Arlington when APS starts moving kids around in a few years to deal with overcrowding at W-L and the under-enrollment at Wakefield. I know it would give me pause.

I don't give much value to a Greatschools number, when the pass rates at W-L and Yorktown are similar and above average for Va, while Wakefield scores much lower. And trust me, no Yorktown house will lose value in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars if moved to W-L. The houses are all universally expensive.

The SOL pass rates for W-L have been lower than at Yorktown, hence the lower rating.

I don't think one can predict with any certainty what the impact would be of moving from Yorktown to W-L without also knowing who is being moved out of W-L to Yorktown or Wakefield. Yorktown has been viewed as the top school in Arlington for a long time. The fact that many of the homes are expensive does not mean their values may not be affected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really think that if you picked up your family from Langley and moved to the South Lakes district that your children's chances of current and future happiness and success would be materially affected? Are your children really so fragile? Do you have so little confidence in their innate abilities and the home life and environment you provide?

Not necessarily, although it is telling that, when part of Madison got moved to South Lakes a few years ago, home values in those neighborhoods declined sharply. Had students been moved from Langley to South Lakes, the reaction presumably would have been similar.
It tells you that, despite your rhetoric, parents do assign considerable value to sending their kids to schools such as Madison and Langley with larger cohorts of higher-achieving students.

But the more salient point here is that purported data on college admissions at a handful of schools in a particular year is not especially instructive as to school quality. If the other poster wants to argue that W-L is equal or superior to schools in FCPS, he or she ought to cone up with something more persuasive.

Peer effects are huge, especially in high school. Any parent who really thinks they have that much influence that school quality doesn't matter, that the expectations that their peers and peers's parents hold don't matter, are delusional.

On a similar 1% note, from someone probably in the 10%, and who grew up somewhere way down (just sold our 30 yr old family home for 50k, so DC and Northeast are a completely different word), having relationships and contacts into an entire 4+ cohort of people who will likely attend world class colleges, head companies, start companies, or be appointed to run think tanks or foundations, there are real limitations to the opportunities your child will have later in life. And with the growing inequality, and the necessity of 'knowing' someone to get that job or secure that funding, sadly 'friends from high school' could really reflect a divergence in their life's path.

Oh for goodness sake. I'm in the 10% too, but grew up solidly middle class (daughter of a teacher and a nurse) in a blue collar town. Only about half my high school class went on to higher education, and that included community and technical colleges. I went to a highly ranked state college and a middling state university for grad school. I graduated from college in the late 80s, terrible job market. Somehow I managed. Our children will not need to rub elbows with CEOs and hedge fund managers to have comfortable and satisfying lives. Get a grip.

Not to turn this into a generational feud, but you are a late baby boomer who lived through a golden age and was ramping up your career in the 90s. You probably bought your first house before any hint of the bubble and boom

For gen x and y, things are way different ; housing costs make for ridiculous compromises (middle class in most major cities translates into hour plus commutes or crappy schools; look at DC, San Francisco, NYC). You can say live in cheaper places, but there are no jobs in the cheaper places

The last fifteen years we've had massive escalation of cost of living but a decline in wages and employment; the economy is bifurcating, probably as bad as in the 20s.

Every edge counts, and the high school cohort you send your kid too sadly has way too much importance on where they land on this economic divide.

This was not the first bubble/boom that burst. People who bought in this area in the late 80's and early 90's did not see any gain in their house value for nearly a decade. THe boom was in the mid to late 80's and then it went down ~20% and stayed there until 1997/98. We sold our first house, that we owned for 8+ years, at a loss - in Arlington- Westover area. There will be another boom and bust in your working lifetime- at least one. Yes, our current house has triple in value since we purchased it, but we have also put quite a bit of money into it. Our money has doubled- but over a 25 year period- hardly a huge jump- especially considering what the stock market has done in that time.

There was also a boom bust in the later 70's into the early 80's. You have to think in terms of multiple decades with house purchases- and don't think of them as investments.

True, there have been regional bubbles before. Look at Florida and its endless cycle.

But for Gen X and Y, the cost of housing (buying and renting) vs income is unprecedentedly high in post war America.

Mate your house value went down, but I am sure you income went up, even after inflation. Our generation has suffered this squeeze, and it looks like it will be worse for our kids as the developing world basically provides and endless supply of labor for manufacturing, engineering, even law and doctors from India.

Welcome to the new gilded age, and make sure you arm your children with every possible advantage.

I have heard the same song and dance every 10-15 years. "This generation has it the worst, this generation has o deal with aging parents and children at the same time, this generation has to save more......." It is called life.

Yes, you had it rough. You went through the Great Recession and were the first generation to see a decline in income since World War II.

Oh wait, that is gen x and gen y.

Coupled with a soul crushing housing bubble proper up in perpetuity by the fed.

You go ahead and pat yourself on the back for how successful you were all on your own.

Our kids will probably have it worse...

?? I would guess that only a very small minority of posters to DCUM were born before 1965; that is, were pre-Gen X.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really think that if you picked up your family from Langley and moved to the South Lakes district that your children's chances of current and future happiness and success would be materially affected? Are your children really so fragile? Do you have so little confidence in their innate abilities and the home life and environment you provide?

Not necessarily, although it is telling that, when part of Madison got moved to South Lakes a few years ago, home values in those neighborhoods declined sharply. Had students been moved from Langley to South Lakes, the reaction presumably would have been similar.
It tells you that, despite your rhetoric, parents do assign considerable value to sending their kids to schools such as Madison and Langley with larger cohorts of higher-achieving students.

But the more salient point here is that purported data on college admissions at a handful of schools in a particular year is not especially instructive as to school quality. If the other poster wants to argue that W-L is equal or superior to schools in FCPS, he or she ought to cone up with something more persuasive.

Peer effects are huge, especially in high school. Any parent who really thinks they have that much influence that school quality doesn't matter, that the expectations that their peers and peers's parents hold don't matter, are delusional.

On a similar 1% note, from someone probably in the 10%, and who grew up somewhere way down (just sold our 30 yr old family home for 50k, so DC and Northeast are a completely different word), having relationships and contacts into an entire 4+ cohort of people who will likely attend world class colleges, head companies, start companies, or be appointed to run think tanks or foundations, there are real limitations to the opportunities your child will have later in life. And with the growing inequality, and the necessity of 'knowing' someone to get that job or secure that funding, sadly 'friends from high school' could really reflect a divergence in their life's path.

Oh for goodness sake. I'm in the 10% too, but grew up solidly middle class (daughter of a teacher and a nurse) in a blue collar town. Only about half my high school class went on to higher education, and that included community and technical colleges. I went to a highly ranked state college and a middling state university for grad school. I graduated from college in the late 80s, terrible job market. Somehow I managed. Our children will not need to rub elbows with CEOs and hedge fund managers to have comfortable and satisfying lives. Get a grip.

Not to turn this into a generational feud, but you are a late baby boomer who lived through a golden age and was ramping up your career in the 90s. You probably bought your first house before any hint of the bubble and boom

For gen x and y, things are way different ; housing costs make for ridiculous compromises (middle class in most major cities translates into hour plus commutes or crappy schools; look at DC, San Francisco, NYC). You can say live in cheaper places, but there are no jobs in the cheaper places

The last fifteen years we've had massive escalation of cost of living but a decline in wages and employment; the economy is bifurcating, probably as bad as in the 20s.

Every edge counts, and the high school cohort you send your kid too sadly has way too much importance on where they land on this economic divide.

This was not the first bubble/boom that burst. People who bought in this area in the late 80's and early 90's did not see any gain in their house value for nearly a decade. THe boom was in the mid to late 80's and then it went down ~20% and stayed there until 1997/98. We sold our first house, that we owned for 8+ years, at a loss - in Arlington- Westover area. There will be another boom and bust in your working lifetime- at least one. Yes, our current house has triple in value since we purchased it, but we have also put quite a bit of money into it. Our money has doubled- but over a 25 year period- hardly a huge jump- especially considering what the stock market has done in that time.

There was also a boom bust in the later 70's into the early 80's. You have to think in terms of multiple decades with house purchases- and don't think of them as investments.

True, there have been regional bubbles before. Look at Florida and its endless cycle.

But for Gen X and Y, the cost of housing (buying and renting) vs income is unprecedentedly high in post war America.

Mate your house value went down, but I am sure you income went up, even after inflation. Our generation has suffered this squeeze, and it looks like it will be worse for our kids as the developing world basically provides and endless supply of labor for manufacturing, engineering, even law and doctors from India.

Welcome to the new gilded age, and make sure you arm your children with every possible advantage.

I have heard the same song and dance every 10-15 years. "This generation has it the worst, this generation has o deal with aging parents and children at the same time, this generation has to save more......." It is called life.

Yes, you had it rough. You went through the Great Recession and were the first generation to see a decline in income since World War II.

Oh wait, that is gen x and gen y.

Coupled with a soul crushing housing bubble proper up in perpetuity by the fed.

You go ahead and pat yourself on the back for how successful you were all on your own.

Our kids will probably have it worse...

My paternal grandmother raised children through the Great Depression and WWII. My maternal Grandfather was a veteran before WWI. My parents grew up in the Great Depression and WWII, feared polio and small pox. My mother lost her father when she was 9 and her father when she was 14 and her grandmother (with whom she lived) when she was 16. My mother was forced to quit her job when she became pregnant. Some of here friends were forced to quit their jobs when they married. Ya, our kids will probably have it worse. NOT!

Yes, "my" generation and yours have had it extremely good. We sometimes forget.

(ALso, I am general excluded from any "generation" as I was born in 1964- neither baby boomer nor Gen X. My children are 14 and 16, don't know what they will be considered.)

[Anonymous]

I'm a '65er and agree with PP. We really don't have a cadre as we were post boomer and pre-Gen X. At some point, one or more writers found it inconvenient that we didn't have a name, so we may have been annexed into Gen X or some other cadre, but we're really "the nameless generation!"

[Anonymous]

'66 here. I'm with your sister (or brother)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I cannot see the real, long-term benefit of separating the smart cookies from the average cookies, and I think doing so may be do the average and below-average cookies a grave disservice. I think the real, measurable benefits for the smart cookies are far smaller than the potential costs for the others.

Doesn't always help the so-called "smart cookies" either.

You don't have to worry about finding smart cookies in Arlington to separate from the pack because there aren't any to separate to begin with.

Exactly the opposite. Every child in Arlington is gifted, so there's no need for the AAP charade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I cannot see the real, long-term benefit of separating the smart cookies from the average cookies, and I think doing so may be do the average and below-average cookies a grave disservice. I think the real, measurable benefits for the smart cookies are far smaller than the potential costs for the others.

Doesn't always help the so-called "smart cookies" either.

You don't have to worry about finding smart cookies in Arlington to separate from the pack because there aren't any to separate to begin with.

Exactly the opposite. Every child in Arlington is gifted, so there's no need for the AAP charade.

not gifted by fcps standards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I cannot see the real, long-term benefit of separating the smart cookies from the average cookies, and I think doing so may be do the average and below-average cookies a grave disservice. I think the real, measurable benefits for the smart cookies are far smaller than the potential costs for the others.

Doesn't always help the so-called "smart cookies" either.

You don't have to worry about finding smart cookies in Arlington to separate from the pack because there aren't any to separate to begin with.

Exactly the opposite. Every child in Arlington is gifted, so there's no need for the AAP charade.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I cannot see the real, long-term benefit of separating the smart cookies from the average cookies, and I think doing so may be do the average and below-average cookies a grave disservice. I think the real, measurable benefits for the smart cookies are far smaller than the potential costs for the others.

Doesn't always help the so-called "smart cookies" either.

You don't have to worry about finding smart cookies in Arlington to separate from the pack because there aren't any to separate to begin with.

Exactly the opposite. Every child in Arlington is gifted, so there's no need for the AAP charade.

not gifted by fcps standards

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your info is wrong. Yorktown is an 8 on GS, W-L is a 5, and Wakefield is a 4. Schools with GS ratings of 5 rarely have a "great reputation" within or outside an entire jurisdiction. They may have a lot of boosters, which is good, but a different thing.

And housing prices are definitely lower in the South Lakes district than in adjacent parts of the Madison and Marshall districts. You could chalk some of that up to location, but homes in the Madison district literally declined tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in value when they were reassigned to South Lakes a few years ago. We'll see if the same thing happens in Arlington when APS starts moving kids around in a few years to deal with overcrowding at W-L and the under-enrollment at Wakefield. I know it would give me pause.

I don't give much value to a Greatschools number, when the pass rates at W-L and Yorktown are similar and above average for Va, while Wakefield scores much lower. And trust me, no Yorktown house will lose value in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars if moved to W-L. The houses are all universally expensive.

I don't agree. I would be worried about the value of my Yorktown house if it was changed from Yorktown to W-L. I moved here specifically for Yorktown and I know others do too. Hopefully it doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your info is wrong. Yorktown is an 8 on GS, W-L is a 5, and Wakefield is a 4. Schools with GS ratings of 5 rarely have a "great reputation" within or outside an entire jurisdiction. They may have a lot of boosters, which is good, but a different thing.

And housing prices are definitely lower in the South Lakes district than in adjacent parts of the Madison and Marshall districts. You could chalk some of that up to location, but homes in the Madison district literally declined tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in value when they were reassigned to South Lakes a few years ago. We'll see if the same thing happens in Arlington when APS starts moving kids around in a few years to deal with overcrowding at W-L and the under-enrollment at Wakefield. I know it would give me pause.

I don't give much value to a Greatschools number, when the pass rates at W-L and Yorktown are similar and above average for Va, while Wakefield scores much lower. And trust me, no Yorktown house will lose value in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars if moved to W-L. The houses are all universally expensive.

I don't agree. I would be worried about the value of my Yorktown house if it was changed from Yorktown to W-L. I moved here specifically for Yorktown and I know others do too. Hopefully it doesn't happen.

Yes and since Yorktown pyramid is the only good in Arlington vs Fairfax county having many good pyramids you don't have any Arlington options.

[Anonymous]

PPs are absolutely right. Do not move to Arlington. It is terrible here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really think that if you picked up your family from Langley and moved to the South Lakes district that your children's chances of current and future happiness and success would be materially affected? Are your children really so fragile? Do you have so little confidence in their innate abilities and the home life and environment you provide?

Not necessarily, although it is telling that, when part of Madison got moved to South Lakes a few years ago, home values in those neighborhoods declined sharply. Had students been moved from Langley to South Lakes, the reaction presumably would have been similar.
It tells you that, despite your rhetoric, parents do assign considerable value to sending their kids to schools such as Madison and Langley with larger cohorts of higher-achieving students.

But the more salient point here is that purported data on college admissions at a handful of schools in a particular year is not especially instructive as to school quality. If the other poster wants to argue that W-L is equal or superior to schools in FCPS, he or she ought to cone up with something more persuasive.

Peer effects are huge, especially in high school. Any parent who really thinks they have that much influence that school quality doesn't matter, that the expectations that their peers and peers's parents hold don't matter, are delusional.

On a similar 1% note, from someone probably in the 10%, and who grew up somewhere way down (just sold our 30 yr old family home for 50k, so DC and Northeast are a completely different word), having relationships and contacts into an entire 4+ cohort of people who will likely attend world class colleges, head companies, start companies, or be appointed to run think tanks or foundations, there are real limitations to the opportunities your child will have later in life. And with the growing inequality, and the necessity of 'knowing' someone to get that job or secure that funding, sadly 'friends from high school' could really reflect a divergence in their life's path.

Oh for goodness sake. I'm in the 10% too, but grew up solidly middle class (daughter of a teacher and a nurse) in a blue collar town. Only about half my high school class went on to higher education, and that included community and technical colleges. I went to a highly ranked state college and a middling state university for grad school. I graduated from college in the late 80s, terrible job market. Somehow I managed. Our children will not need to rub elbows with CEOs and hedge fund managers to have comfortable and satisfying lives. Get a grip.

Not to turn this into a generational feud, but you are a late baby boomer who lived through a golden age and was ramping up your career in the 90s. You probably bought your first house before any hint of the bubble and boom

For gen x and y, things are way different ; housing costs make for ridiculous compromises (middle class in most major cities translates into hour plus commutes or crappy schools; look at DC, San Francisco, NYC). You can say live in cheaper places, but there are no jobs in the cheaper places

The last fifteen years we've had massive escalation of cost of living but a decline in wages and employment; the economy is bifurcating, probably as bad as in the 20s.

Every edge counts, and the high school cohort you send your kid too sadly has way too much importance on where they land on this economic divide.

This was not the first bubble/boom that burst. People who bought in this area in the late 80's and early 90's did not see any gain in their house value for nearly a decade. THe boom was in the mid to late 80's and then it went down ~20% and stayed there until 1997/98. We sold our first house, that we owned for 8+ years, at a loss - in Arlington- Westover area. There will be another boom and bust in your working lifetime- at least one. Yes, our current house has triple in value since we purchased it, but we have also put quite a bit of money into it. Our money has doubled- but over a 25 year period- hardly a huge jump- especially considering what the stock market has done in that time.

There was also a boom bust in the later 70's into the early 80's. You have to think in terms of multiple decades with house purchases- and don't think of them as investments.

True, there have been regional bubbles before. Look at Florida and its endless cycle.

But for Gen X and Y, the cost of housing (buying and renting) vs income is unprecedentedly high in post war America.

Mate your house value went down, but I am sure you income went up, even after inflation. Our generation has suffered this squeeze, and it looks like it will be worse for our kids as the developing world basically provides and endless supply of labor for manufacturing, engineering, even law and doctors from India.

Welcome to the new gilded age, and make sure you arm your children with every possible advantage.

I have heard the same song and dance every 10-15 years. "This generation has it the worst, this generation has o deal with aging parents and children at the same time, this generation has to save more......." It is called life.

Yes, you had it rough. You went through the Great Recession and were the first generation to see a decline in income since World War II.

Oh wait, that is gen x and gen y.

Coupled with a soul crushing housing bubble proper up in perpetuity by the fed.

You go ahead and pat yourself on the back for how successful you were all on your own.

Our kids will probably have it worse...

My paternal grandmother raised children through the Great Depression and WWII. My maternal Grandfather was a veteran before WWI. My parents grew up in the Great Depression and WWII, feared polio and small pox. My mother lost her father when she was 9 and her father when she was 14 and her grandmother (with whom she lived) when she was 16. My mother was forced to quit her job when she became pregnant. Some of here friends were forced to quit their jobs when they married. Ya, our kids will probably have it worse. NOT!

Yes, "my" generation and yours have had it extremely good. We sometimes forget.

(ALso, I am general excluded from any "generation" as I was born in 1964- neither baby boomer nor Gen X. My children are 14 and 16, don't know what they will be considered.)

Note this description of how things were for post-WWII; I agree, prior to WWII life was difficult for many reasons.

Confusing technical advances versus comparative living standards is a straw-man argument. Smallpox? Really?

We're just saying that pretending the the post-war generaions enjoyed a lucrative, growing labour market and radically cheaper housing market, and competed in a non-globalized economy, growing up in a 2nd class schools you could still make well and provide for your family.

But for Gen Y, its becoming clear that getting decent jobs that can pay for a house near where you work, with decent health insurance, and stability is extremely rare; and generally will take connections. Hence the advantages of going to the best possible schools; the graduates of that school will provide an economic social network to insulate your children against the bifurcation in the economy. Otherwise, they could end up on the rough side of that divide, and spend a life in extreme debt and deprivation -- and money doesn't buy happiness, but a lack of money can lead to divorce, poor health, and worse.

Maybe there will be a gentle revolution, and tax rates on the uber wealthy will rise, and communities will encourage subsidized childcare, guaranteed universal health insurance, and find a way to provide excellent education in all neighborhoods, not just the wealthy ones. But don't hold your breath on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PPs are absolutely right. Do not move to Arlington. It is terrible here!

Yes, definitely sucks here! Lots of very average children. No smart cookies here at all.