Whats going at Oak Park River Forest High School? (Morton: low income, neighborhood)

[Humboldt1]

With CPS and Naperville spending the same per student in theory the students should be getting the same level of education. This is obviously not happening. Poor black kids and upper middle class white kids are receiving the same funding but it is what is going on at home that differentiates them achievement-wise. If your parents went to college they will naturally expect their children to go and will generally do what they can to help their kids succeed academically. If you did not graduate high school and do not help your kids with homework and spend the quality time with your kids they will not be able to succeed. Poor parenting leads to poor academic performance. Only a few highly-driven individuals are able to overcome such poor backgrounds to become successful. The rest are essentially left to rot and often times end up living a menial working existence or taking public aid.

Meeks understands this but just wants to make a name for himself and play the martyr role in the media.

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

With CPS and Naperville spending the same per student in theory the students should be getting the same level of education. This is obviously not happening. Poor black kids and upper middle class white kids are receiving the same funding but it is what is going on at home that differentiates them achievement-wise. If your parents went to college they will naturally expect their children to go and will generally do what they can to help their kids succeed academically. If you did not graduate high school and do not help your kids with homework and spend the quality time with your kids they will not be able to succeed. Poor parenting leads to poor academic performance. Only a few highly-driven individuals are able to overcome such poor backgrounds to become successful. The rest are essentially left to rot and often times end up living a menial working existence or taking public aid.

Meeks understands this but just wants to make a name for himself and play the martyr role in the media.

I think CPS has a lot of dedicated and fairly paid teachers. I think the probelms is not is the schools as much as the culture. If the kids dont come to school willing to work, and the parents aren't pushing the kids to do homework, extracurriculars, I don't know what the schools can really do to offset the cultural issues.

[sbd78]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Meeks understands this but just wants to make a name for himself and play the martyr role in the media.

Exactly. That is why Meeks singled out New Trier to support his claim that funding is inadequately distributed between CPS and suburban (mostly white) schools. If you look at New Trier alone, this seems to be true. But school funding is public information and 5 minutes of research is all it takes to find that his claims have no basis. CPS actually gets much more funding then most schools in the more rural parts of Illinois. CPS actually gets about $4,000 more per student than the small town HS I attended. And I think I turned out o.k., LOL!

[team_evans]

Originally Posted by Anthera

The problem is when a city chooses not to increase taxes for their school, but the residents of a neighboring community choose to increase funding for their school. Is it then fair for the kids in the first community to benefit from the other municipality's sacrifice?

All the CPS receive adequate funding, the problem is how they spend it. If Naperville and CPS spend the same per student, should Naperille be punished for spending it wisely? Lookout is correct, OP is NOT a tony suburb. There is plenty of Section 8 housing available, plus CPS has magnet schools available.

If this girls parents are unwilling or unable to help her get into a good school, that just means that if she's smart & hardworking, her class rank will be high enough to give her a full ride to the college of her choice.

Lookout and Anthera, thanks for clarifying. I freely admit that I don't know all the details of the communities under discussion and the school system dynamics; I'm here to learn : )

It sounds to me like you're saying that Oak Park as a community has chosen to fund schools well through high property taxes and shepherds those resources wisely, and the results are quality schools even without uniform priviledged socioeconomics at work. I can see how those who live in a community like that would want to say to the neighboring cities, 'I know we've accomplished good things here; go improve your own town instead of trying to tunnel into mine!'

I agree with whoever said that no amount of money thrown at underperforming schools can make up for parents who are not involved and supportive of education--but how to solve that problem is, ahem, for those above my pay grade ; )

Being a very involved parent (I'm the president of the PTO at my kids' school) with three young children, educational issues are very important to me. I read this board frequently, as a move to your area is a possibility in the future for my family, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about how the schools in different communities there work.

Thanks for being patient with an out-of-towner : )

[Ambiance Star]

Thats a stereotype!!! All inner city kids are not in gangs or do drugs and wear baggy jeans...dont be such a hypocrite because if it were you I think you would do anything you could to get your child in a great school (thats if your a good parent) especially if yours is a smart and mannerable child. Some people with their noses in the air and their comments are just perposterous

[Ambiance Star]

Whats so disgusting about it! Stop being so judgemental about something that people all over the world have been doing for years and just because inner city people are catching wind of it all of a sudden its a problem. God forbid them to want better for their children...whats disgusting is how foolish some of you people sound...

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by Ambiance Star

Whats so disgusting about it! Stop being so judgemental about something that people all over the world have been doing for years and just because inner city people are catching wind of it all of a sudden its a problem. God forbid them to want better for their children...whats disgusting is how foolish some of you people sound...

So breaking the law is acceptable? Plenty of parents with moderate incomes have found rentals in places like Skokie, Evanston, Wheeling, Palatine, Des Plaines where their kids get a much better education than the local CPS school. My question is, if the local schools are so crappy, instead of lying and cheating to get one's child into a better school, why not MOVE and do it legally!!

[BigLake]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

So breaking the law is acceptable? Plenty of parents with moderate incomes have found rentals in places like Skokie, Evanston, Wheeling, Palatine, Des Plaines where their kids get a much better education than the local CPS school. My question is, if the local schools are so crappy, instead of lying and cheating to get one's child into a better school, why not MOVE and do it legally!!

Agree-- people who lie and use false information to get their kids into a school that's not in their jurisdiction is just a bad practice. It's detrimental and unjust to families/students who pay the taxes to rightfully attend the school.

This has nothing to do with "wanting something better for their children" if it's done illegally. If you want to send your children to a better school district, do so legally-- move into the school district, and pay that school districts taxes.

[noid_1985]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

My question is, if the local schools are so crappy, instead of lying and cheating to get one's child into a better school, why not MOVE and do it legally!!

Can't really argue against that point, seems like a simple solution for immigration too

[AuDiBelle]

I would think that Oak Park residents (who are typically left leaning) would be very accepting of educating the kids in the less privileged Austin neighborhood. Isn't helping poor minorities one of the cornerstones of liberalism? Sounds as if they are being NIMBY-ish to me. After all, it's for the children.