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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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?[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[b] You probably bought your first house before any hint of the bubble and boom[/b]

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. [/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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.
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