Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren't racist in Bowie like they are in Nova. I mean, look at the obnoxious people in this thread; it's ridiculous.

I grew up in Bowie in the 80s-90s. What you say might be true now, but absolutely was not true when I was growing up (and Bowie was about 90% white). Many of my friends' parents (and my own) said vile thing about other races, particularly black people (the "n word" was thrown around freely). Those people likely all fled when the demographics started to change, so it's probably correct that people in Bowie aren't racist these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, and to add, I guess that there is an insinuation here that it is hypocritical to live in a poor area but not send your children to public schools, and... that's really bizarre. I am willing to pay money for a better school experience just like the people all over the region, with smaller classes, less testing, language immersion, and aspects of character education and Christian education incorporated into the curriculum. Nonetheless it was a decision I agonized over quite a bit, until I decided it was worth it to try preschool and see if it was a good experience or go back to the public school. DH also very strongly preferred the Catholic school. But our neighbors' children have attended public school and I am very impressed at how poised and polite they are. I am making this area work for me and it is working very well.

It's not.

It is, however, hypocritical, to sing praises to your community and then spend money to isolate your child from the children of its members.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, and to add, I guess that there is an insinuation here that it is hypocritical to live in a poor area but not send your children to public schools, and... that's really bizarre. I am willing to pay money for a better school experience just like the people all over the region, with smaller classes, less testing, language immersion, and aspects of character education and Christian education incorporated into the curriculum. Nonetheless it was a decision I agonized over quite a bit, until I decided it was worth it to try preschool and see if it was a good experience or go back to the public school. DH also very strongly preferred the Catholic school. But our neighbors' children have attended public school and I am very impressed at how poised and polite they are. I am making this area work for me and it is working very well.

It's not.

It is, however, hypocritical, to sing praises to your community and then spend money to isolate your child from the children of its members.

+1, especially when the song of those praises is full of implicit and explicit judgment of those who spend more money on real estate to live in a community where they do not need to consider alternatives to public schools.

Bullshit. This is the comment I was originally responding to:

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a small middle class section of a community that is surrounded by large pockets of working class/lower class people who don't have the same resources, and this can cause some stress and conflict. The more uniform people's lives are, the nicer the community. If you are living in chaos due to economics, you bring that into your community- and the higher functioning people have to just live with it.

The comment above mentions nothing about schools, only the "stress and conflict" and "chaos" that comes from living in a lower income area. And PG's median income is not even that low!! If your problem with PG County is schools, my point was that you can affordably work around that to suit your preference, and there is no "stress" living in the area. The vast majority of people I see on a day to day basis are middle class or working class and minding their own business. Nor is attending the neighborhood parochial school somehow "avoiding" the community. There are tons of Catholic schools in this county, and they're all serving middle class people in the community.

PG's stigma is not only about its schools, and it's not about crime, and it's not about the actual quality of life in the area. It's about race. But it's fine, because you guys are paying buttloads of money for buying into that bullshit stigma. Enjoy, but just know that I am paying less than you, for a nicer house than yours, and a better lifestyle, all because I don't mind living around black and hispanic people.

Anonymous wrote:It's not just the commute. It's bc black ppl live there and they can't take their homes and "change" the neighborhood the way they could in dc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, and to add, I guess that there is an insinuation here that it is hypocritical to live in a poor area but not send your children to public schools, and... that's really bizarre. I am willing to pay money for a better school experience just like the people all over the region, with smaller classes, less testing, language immersion, and aspects of character education and Christian education incorporated into the curriculum. Nonetheless it was a decision I agonized over quite a bit, until I decided it was worth it to try preschool and see if it was a good experience or go back to the public school. DH also very strongly preferred the Catholic school. But our neighbors' children have attended public school and I am very impressed at how poised and polite they are. I am making this area work for me and it is working very well.

It's not.

It is, however, hypocritical, to sing praises to your community and then spend money to isolate your child from the children of its members.

+1, especially when the song of those praises is full of implicit and explicit judgment of those who spend more money on real estate to live in a community where they do not need to consider alternatives to public schools.

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a small middle class section of a community that is surrounded by large pockets of working class/lower class people who don't have the same resources, and this can cause some stress and conflict. The more uniform people's lives are, the nicer the community. If you are living in chaos due to economics, you bring that into your community- and the higher functioning people have to just live with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren't racist in Bowie like they are in Nova. I mean, look at the obnoxious people in this thread; it's ridiculous.

I grew up in Bowie in the 80s-90s. What you say might be true now, but absolutely was not true when I was growing up (and Bowie was about 90% white). Many of my friends' parents (and my own) said vile thing about other races, particularly black people (the "n word" was thrown around freely). Those people likely all fled when the demographics started to change, so it's probably correct that people in Bowie aren't racist these days.

Anonymous wrote:People aren't racist in Bowie like they are in Nova. I mean, look at the obnoxious people in this thread; it's ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, and to add, I guess that there is an insinuation here that it is hypocritical to live in a poor area but not send your children to public schools, and... that's really bizarre. I am willing to pay money for a better school experience just like the people all over the region, with smaller classes, less testing, language immersion, and aspects of character education and Christian education incorporated into the curriculum. Nonetheless it was a decision I agonized over quite a bit, until I decided it was worth it to try preschool and see if it was a good experience or go back to the public school. DH also very strongly preferred the Catholic school. But our neighbors' children have attended public school and I am very impressed at how poised and polite they are. I am making this area work for me and it is working very well.

It's not.

It is, however, hypocritical, to sing praises to your community and then spend money to isolate your child from the children of its members.

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, and to add, I guess that there is an insinuation here that it is hypocritical to live in a poor area but not send your children to public schools, and... that's really bizarre. I am willing to pay money for a better school experience just like the people all over the region, with smaller classes, less testing, language immersion, and aspects of character education and Christian education incorporated into the curriculum. Nonetheless it was a decision I agonized over quite a bit, until I decided it was worth it to try preschool and see if it was a good experience or go back to the public school. DH also very strongly preferred the Catholic school. But our neighbors' children have attended public school and I am very impressed at how poised and polite they are. I am making this area work for me and it is working very well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lanham is a real ghetto. Far worse than Bowie! Omg, you couldn't pay me live there!!

Such hyperbole. Me thinks you don't know much about ghettos. That's a good thing. But please stop talking about things you no not.

Signed,

Not a PG resident

me grew up in Lanham so me thinks me knows what me is talking about. get me?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie also has its own police force to supplement the County. All they do is drive around constantly to prevent property crime and provide a police presence. and the parks are phenomenal.

For the person that likes to ride metro, you can park at the park n ride and take a direct bus to metro or park at metro (10-15 min drive) and then metro in in 20-30 minutes. That's what I did and always got a seat, which was nice for work. The commute was equAl to my commute from MOnt Co. If I worked at capital hill or l'enfant, commute from Bowie would definitely be shorter.

That person wanted to WALK, not drive or drive and ride a bus to the metro.

There are arrears in DC which requires a drive or bus ride to the metro. Everybody can't live on top or within a half mile of the metro. More importantly, who can trust metro to get you to your destination on time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lanham is a real ghetto. Far worse than Bowie! Omg, you couldn't pay me live there!!

Such hyperbole. Me thinks you don't know much about ghettos. That's a good thing. But please stop talking about things you no not.

Signed,

Not a PG resident

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie also has its own police force to supplement the County. All they do is drive around constantly to prevent property crime and provide a police presence. and the parks are phenomenal.

For the person that likes to ride metro, you can park at the park n ride and take a direct bus to metro or park at metro (10-15 min drive) and then metro in in 20-30 minutes. That's what I did and always got a seat, which was nice for work. The commute was equAl to my commute from MOnt Co. If I worked at capital hill or l'enfant, commute from Bowie would definitely be shorter.

That person wanted to WALK, not drive or drive and ride a bus to the metro.

There are arrears in DC which requires a drive or bus ride to the metro. Everybody can't live on top or within a half mile of the metro. More importantly, who can trust metro to get you to your destination on time.

Anonymous wrote:Lanham is a real ghetto. Far worse than Bowie! Omg, you couldn't pay me live there!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie also has its own police force to supplement the County. All they do is drive around constantly to prevent property crime and provide a police presence. and the parks are phenomenal.

For the person that likes to ride metro, you can park at the park n ride and take a direct bus to metro or park at metro (10-15 min drive) and then metro in in 20-30 minutes. That's what I did and always got a seat, which was nice for work. The commute was equAl to my commute from MOnt Co. If I worked at capital hill or l'enfant, commute from Bowie would definitely be shorter.

That person wanted to WALK, not drive or drive and ride a bus to the metro.