Thoughts on Glencoe, IL

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by aragx6

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think kids go to school just as much to learn how to socialize and be a part of the human race as they do to learn academics.

In a perfect world you could have both simultaneously.

Problem: no perfect world.

Seriously, I used to think this, too, until my own children started high school. It's a zoo. And those are the nice ones. There is so much social pressure for negative things, FAR AND AWAY so much more than previous generations, that I think the kids now who succeed have to take the long view and, by and large, stay out of the fray....even in $$ private schools. It's so important to pick a few good friends, that's the ticket. Then, you have the latchkey kids, excess computer and TV, etc., etc. There is a huge amount of guidance required at this (still) tender age of, say, 14 - 15, to take on what high school has become today. The social aspects have become much more negative, even many of the kids see that...

[aragx6]

I disagree that there is more social pressure on kids now than the previous generation. I just think it gets more media attention and thought now.

[Sailaway50]

I thought so too until mine entered high school. I'm an older parent. Whole different ball game.

[Paige65]

Hi booyah,

I live just a few minutes from Glencoe. It's a great suburb with easy access to lots of amenities. You can ride your bike to the Chicago Botanic Garden, walk to the Lake, hop on a train for a five minute ride to the Ravinia Festival, enjoy the small downtowns of Glencoe and Hubbard Woods (Winnetka) or the larger downtown area in Highland Park. Also easy very easy to get downtown via I-94 (or Sheridan Road during high traffic times on the Edens) and the Tri-State tollway (I-294). People are friendly. I'm sure you'll love it.

[pennquaker09]

Originally Posted by aragx6

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think kids go to school just as much to learn how to socialize and be a part of the human race as they do to learn academics.

In a perfect world you could have both simultaneously.

I completely agree.

You know, I went to a NT type high school and for those they really know anything about teenagers, that kind of school is just as dangerous as some of the schools in the less desirable areas of Chicago. Which is why I don't understand why everyone comes looking for "safe" schools and all that. Safe is such a relative word.

[aragx6]

In my upscale high school it was the rich kids who were doing coke and x (It was 2000 - ecstasy was all the rage then) because they were the one's who could afford it.

And when I was in college, through a roommate's work we became friends with some high schoolers in town and they did drugs I'd never even heard of before, and this was supposed to be one of the top high schools in the state.

Bad things happen every where. I completely understand parents wanting to protect their children, but there's really only so much you can do, and I'm not entirely convinced that moving out to the suburbs and sending them to the best schools really in the end changes their experience a whole lot.

[Sailaway50]

{QUOTE
Bad things happen every where. I completely understand parents wanting to protect their children, but there's really only so much you can do, and I'm not entirely convinced that moving out to the suburbs and sending them to the best schools really in the end changes their experience a whole lot.[/quote]

The location and peers do make a difference. There are also issues of racial tension in some/many urban schools.....which affect both whites and blacks very negatively, do NOT add "tools for living" by and large, and distract from academics.....too much focus on the problems and this is also a skewed world view for the student.

I believe that the differences OF COURSE are location, and YES you can find "nuts" at any high school.....matter of degree, however, and some have FAR MORE than others.

One of the essential differences here is NOT ONLY the location, level of upscale, academics, etc....

Religion, morality, and a strong basis of integrity that comes from home and the practice/education in values is a huge key. AND many parents, I have SEEN THIS, throw up their hands in high school, buy into "this is a time of independent learning of consquences" as an excuse to non-parent. High school today is too much of a complicated, slippery slope, to sit back as a parent and wait until it's time to bring in the waste management.....truly. Choice of high school is extremely important. I am well aware of the probs at NT and, as I said before, would not choose it for EVERY student.

[aragx6]

Actually I think racial tension adds lots of tools for living, as you will run into these situations over and over again if you are an American in this country (Unless you go hide in a 97% white suburb). Where else better to learn about this tension than in high school? (which is already full of tension anyway)

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Actually I think racial tension adds lots of tools for living, as you will run into these situations over and over again if you are an American in this country (Unless you go hide in a 97% white suburb). Where else better to learn about this tension than in high school? (which is already full of tension anyway)

Well, maybe I have a different perspective because I raised both mine in the city ... real city and not the "neo suburban" part of it. And, I felt they had those tools already from dealing with every day life here. I felt in the pub schools it was so palpable and aggressive (but under the radar which can be more stressful in its own way) that it was detrimental to the concentration on studies. There is a definite difference between my children (now 15 and 21) and the suburban ones. Not all bad or good, but differences. They've been exposed to things that are not in the universe (except from inaccurate TV stereotypes) of some suburban kids. I think that's a plus; maybe we had our "high school stress" in smaller doses over time, with them growing up in the city.

This is not about a "white" high school; it's about the lack of control in the CPS schools .. not necessarly the mix.

I've always said....."No child left behind"....unless you don't fit the profile.