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Schools and Education General Discussion
Washington Post reporter doing story on how schools influence home buying
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Anonymous
| PPs, can you specify which supposed public schools were overhyped and underwhelmed you? |
Anonymous
| I'm confused -- this just seems like common sense. Doesn't EVERYONE with kids research the school district and try to be in the best district they can afford (or almost afford)? The more entertaining story would be: "Who neglected to research the school district beforehand and was stunned when they found themselves in a Title I school?" |
Anonymous
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Or, perhaps a story about parents who were not able to buy/afford a property in their 1st choice school district, and have been pleasantly surprised by the learning/education their child(ren) has experienced in a less-desired/less-sought after public school district...it might be a more interesting/enlightening topic.
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Anonymous
| Either of these last two suggestions would be more interesting and informative than the piece the OP proposed to write, which would be neither. |
Anonymous
I would be very happy to read this kind of article, too. We experienced this same thing and wound up picking an area in which neighbors with school-age kids seem very happy. With any luck, we will be too. I don't know any parents who didn't try to be in the best neighborhood they could. The original article suggestion seems like a "duh" to me, as well. |
Anonymous
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We didn't pay attention to school boundaries when we house-shopped. We moved in before we had a kid and we didn't assume we'd send our kid to public school. When school time came around, we chose private, got our first choice, end of story (for now, at least). But moving would have been an option had privates looked unappealing or circumstances changed and we couldn't afford private.
Truthfully, I think a lot of affluent families who live in DC think the same way. We moved here despite not for the schools. And once you decide you aren't likely to use the public schools, you have a lot more freedom to choose where you live based on other criteria. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
What is wrong with wanting the very best education for my DC? I am for every child going to good school. DH and I worked very hard to achieve what we have, and feel privileged to live in a country that rewards those who try hard. Look at Obama & Fenty. They send their kids to good private schools. This is a very personal choice that we make as parents and should not have to justify our decision. I am not familiar with the term "Title 1 school", but clearly it's not where parent would want to send their kids. |
Anonymous
| You were doing great until your last sentence, which revealed an unflattering combination of ignorance and arrogance! |
Anonymous
Ditto. And as other PPs have suggested more interesting angles for the article, this could one too could be added: "I bought for the particular house/neighborhood and I don't care about the local public school." |
Anonymous
Let me do the research for you since you seem incapable of being resourceful. http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html USDE - a credible site So "clearly it's not where [you as] parent would want to send [your] kids." |
Anonymous
Maybe, but then the reporter would be limiting herself to a small subset of very affluent families (which seems to be what you want us to think you are). A more interesting article would be about families who have to make tradeoffs. For example, what about the family that chooses to go private no matter what, and lives in a small house/crummy neighborhood in order to pay the tuition? Versus the family with a similar income who chooses public and buys in a better neighborhood? Which still might mean a small house in the neighborhood with the great school. Lots of interesting trade-offs that don't revolve around "I have a great house and pay for private too". |
Anonymous
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As long as a Title 1 school has strong, positive leadership in the school, and caring, enthusiastic teachers, it can be a great place. Lower teacher/student ratios, multi-sensory learning, single sex Math/Science, diversity, magnet arts or Spanish or technology programs are just some of the wonderful options at Title 1 schools.
It's not always an easy environment but it can certainly be rewarding. Sorry for the off topic post - just had to enlighten on the Title 1 comment |
Anonymous
PP, thanks for the information. I know very little about the Title 1 schools . Where do you find them? And, how do they rate as compared to public schools in this area? |
Anonymous
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I used to teach at a Title 1 school and agree it was a GREAT school but you need good principals and teachers.
Our school was in an area that had some expensive houses and also some apartment complexes where low income families lived, so we pulled students from the high and low end so to speak. The education was the same as the rest of the county's schools. Test scores were not as high as the tippy top schools, but test scores of our top students were every bit as high as everywhere else, we just had a lot of kids who didn't speak English. There were a LOT of very small classes with all the extra teahers. Parents were happy to see their kids often being instructed in groups of 10 or fewer. We had many students who qualified for the local G/T school who chose to stay in our school instead. But -- you do need a very good principal, who believes that meeting the needs of all students, not just the most needy, is important. |