Please give me 10 reasons why NOT to move to the Austin area. (Cedar Park: real estate)

[Sunnyface]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

I don't have kids, but I've taught every level from K through grad school and hope I can jump in on this discussion. I don't think the demographics of a classroom have ANYTHING to do with the quality of education, other than some correlations between poverty, crime, and bad schools. But the language thing can be turned into a positive factor in a class with a good teacher, a good mix of students and a critical mass of involved caring parents. Schools don't automatically become bad because of a large number of ESL students. Some of the most exemplary schools in the nation are in multi-lingual neighborhoods in Los Angeles and New York.

Sorry, this makes no sense to me. Sounds like a lot of grammatically garbled anti-Texas stereotypes. I'm an elitist too, but I try to hide it!

No, Harvester, I aspire to become "elitist". In a couple years I'll be lounging at my "upper middle class white neighborhood" pool, and cogitating about all that's been said here...

And it'd not just the language issue. It's values, too. Hays High School has 1 out of 3 "Hispanic" girls leave school due to pregnancy. But they're working on having a nursery there, so that statistic should be going down soon.

[Jazzedforhim]

Originally Posted by Sunnyface

No, Harvester, I aspire to become "elitist". In a couple years I'll be lounging at my "upper middle class white neighborhood" pool, and cogitating about all that's been said here...

And it'd not just the language issue. It's values, too. Hays High School has 1 out of 3 "Hispanic" girls leave school due to pregnancy. But they're working on having a nursery there, so that statistic should be going down soon.

Oh but that never happens in the upper middle class white neighborhoods! Whew! I think Jenbar was correct in her first assessment.

[jread]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

jread : Don't you LIVE IN as you put it, a "cookie cutter" suburb? Aren't you then, just contributing to the problem, as you see it? I don't understand being so vehemently against something, that you have consciously bought into? Do you feel guilty or something?

So you completely disregard my other replies only to change the subject to a new attack?

I live in a newer subdivision in South Austin that is as close to everything as we could afford at the time. It has some of the elements of a traditional neighborhood and is very walkable, making it the lesser of the evils. We're completely within the city limits, recycle everything we can, can bike to shopping areas and I take the bus to work. Still, we are looking to be as close to downtown as possible as soon as we can afford it (hopefully all the condo projects will make that a reality soon enough).

[Jenbar]

jread, I don't think it was an attack. I was asking for clarity on where you are coming from with your anger for the suburbs, if you are one of those that you detest.

Oh, I know, you didn't move FROM an affluent community, but you chose to move TO one, right?

Actually, you are pretty much right. The cost of housing and living in Seattle is astronomical. What we could afford there (average), put us in a much better neighborhood here (above average, but not Steiner Ranch or anything!). Anyone who has moved here, from there could tell you the same.

... and we didn't really "choose" this neighborhood. I already had my mom and sister here, just down the street. It was a no-brainer really.

Harvester is right on the money.

I don't have kids, but I've taught every level from K through grad school and hope I can jump in on this discussion. I don't think the demographics of a classroom have ANYTHING to do with the quality of education, other than some correlations between poverty, crime, and bad schools. But the language thing can be turned into a positive factor in a class with a good teacher, a good mix of students and a critical mass of involved caring parents. Schools don't automatically become bad because of a large number of ESL students. Some of the most exemplary schools in the nation are in multi-lingual neighborhoods in Los Angeles and New York.

[Driftwood1]

Sunnyface, could you divulge you're source for these statistics?
In the unlikely event this area is still desireable in 10yrs our kids would go to school there, and that is a sad number.. indeed.
Sometimes rumors are repeated often enough to be true... just wondered where you heard it..

Cheers



""Hays High School has 1 out of 3 "Hispanic" girls leave school due to pregnancy. But they're working on having a nursery there, so that statistic should be going down soon.""

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by Driftwood1

In the unlikely event this area is still desireable in 10yrs our kids would go to school there, and that is a sad number.. indeed.
"Hays High School has 1 out of 3 "Hispanic" girls leave school due to pregnancy. But they're working on having a nursery there, so that statistic should be going down soon."

Trends are never linear and options always change. If you're in Driftwood, as your user name indicates, I cannot fathom that area becoming undesirable. It's gorgeous, as you've certainly noticed.

But why does it have to be a negative that some girls are leaving school due to pregnancy? There is so much conflict between parents about sex education, birth control, abortion, allowing pregnant girls to attend school with their children, and so on --- it seems to me that the parents are really the problem. Children are resilient and can make the best of ANY situation if the adults who are responsible for them provide the resources and guidance to help the kids be their best. There are ghetto schools that blow away rich school districts, it all depends on how the situation is handled by adults.

For example, one of the most high-performing school districts in the Dallas area was in Plano and they had a rash of heroin overdoses (late 1990s?) among the non-pregnant non-Hispanic children of the rich. There were something like 12 deaths, mostly high school juniors and seniors. Contrast that with a girl who learns the responsibility of being a mom when she's 13 or 14, she's a lot less likely to be hittin' the bottle or popping pills unless she is shamed for her situation. Again, it comes back to the adults in her life, how THEY treat her. A mom is a mom regardless of age, and they deserve the same respect whether they're 14 or 41.

For children, the world is simply as it is, it's not how you want it to be for them and it never will be. To adults, things look very different than how they look to kids because we have all our life experience providing context and a basis for comparison. On the other hand, we often fail to understand the REAL problems children are dealing with because we get too caught up projecting what we think they're thinking instead of simply listening to them and recognizing that their world is something we can never possibly understand from their perspective. Maybe having some pregnant girls in school isn't a problem at all, maybe the problem is an unfair teacher, or a social issue, a bully, a learning disability, an emotional coping issue --- we have to listen to what matters to them instead of assuming that we know what will be good or bad for them.

[love roses]

I think it's hard to do that when you yourself were a teenager once, and know about what it's like to have been young, except that now, like you said, have life experience. It's so hard to try and stifle that and let them learn for themselves when you think you can save them....

[Driftwood1]

I was really looking to find out if there was a source for the statistic...

Yes I do find it a bit sad that these girls end up pregnant and out of school, but I certainly dont blame or look down on them, just wish it werent so, thats all.

My worry about Hays (yes were in Driftwood) comes from the growth. Kyle in particular is the fastest growing town Ive ever lived near, and then the whole 1826 area is developing just as quick ( although ALOT larger lot sizes) , We forsee a traffic issue similar to what 183 coming in from Cedar Park used to be like, too many cars with just one way to get in. We currently commute to congress in 35 min (except for a very rare day) and we beleive SH 45, tolls planned etc will really just slow things down. AND , if they ever widen 1826, the character of the area will be totally lost, imagine pulling off a 4-lane to park at Thr Salt Lick
So again , in 10 years, the area could well be radically different.

Still , may by the they will have finished the ramp from mopac onto 71E (yeah right) .

[Trainwreck20]

Still , may by the they will have finished the ramp from mopac onto 71E (yeah right) .

The one that now looks like a botanical garden with all the stuff growing on it? My wife has to take 71E from south of there, and we have all sorts of alternate routes. Sure would be nice if they finish that before we retire....

[david4455]

Wow, thanks for such a spirited discussion on my original post.

Do I get a prize (relocation cash would be nice) for starting what appears to be one of the longest threads on this forum?

Is there a way to tell if there is any thread longer other than going back page by page?