where does "West Lakeview" end and Roscoe Village begin?

[eevee]

You know, when I created this thread almost THREE years ago, I never expected it to devolve into this strange, rambling, OT discussion currently happening.

Looking back at that original post now, ugh, what a huge mistake we made moving into that place in West Lakeview/Roscoe Village/whatever

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

There's a lot of room in between "middle to upper middle class" and "super rich." The only people I've known who lived in Roscoe Village were a family of four with an income in the mid-six-figures (perhaps not super rich, but not middle class and probably not even upper middle class). They lived there until leaving the city this year and didn't appear to be alone in their demographic there.

An income in the mid-six figures would put them well above the median for Winnetka. In Roscoe Village, most people would consider $100,000 to be a good income. But there are those making $250,000 plus. Middle to upper middle class seems like a good description to me; there are always exceptions.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

Are you sure about that? I've never met a CPS teacher who didn't have a master's degree. If they don't require a master's right off the bat they apparently at least require enough continuing education for most of them to end up having graduate degrees by the time they're in their late 20's. It could be that I'm meeting a very skewed sample of teachers, but I doubt it.

The publicity surrounding the CPS salary and pension negotiations indicates that "Lane 1" is the salary schedule for people with BA's. I don't know if they are required to get masters' degrees or just encouraged by the salary schedule to do so.

Are you sure you're not hanging out with Teach for America teachers? They are, in fact, drawn from top schools.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

Unfortunately that model is being rapidly abandoned by universities, who are increasingly taking a more business-oriented approach of maximizing revenue and minimizing overhead at all costs. This means classes are increasingly taught by adjuncts, "visiting" profs, "lecturers"..., etc., all of whom earn next to nothing (far less than CPS teachers) and most of whom will never be tenure-track faculty. The bean counters are doing their best to destroy the university tenure model just like their public education counterparts are trying to do to teacher's unions.



For now. Unfortunately I think we're coasting on reputation in some ways. China and others are working to learn and implement the best aspects of American education (teaching creativity and critical thinking, which have been historically lacking in their approach), and will eventually be powerful enough that they don't need the name recognition of American universities anymore. Their own will work just fine.

Good points.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by eevee

You know, when I created this thread almost THREE years ago, I never expected it to devolve into this strange, rambling, OT discussion currently happening.

Looking back at that original post now, ugh, what a huge mistake we made moving into that place in West Lakeview/Roscoe Village/whatever

Funny you say that, as the state of the CPS (and the fact that Bell and Audubon specifically are very much considered top tier) has been a huge driver in the explosive real estate growth/prices in Roscoe Village, while the newer residents of WLV (aka Hamlin Park) have not "turned around" Schneider. Gonna take a while, is my guess.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

But there are those making $250,000 plus.

Exactly. Quite a few. That was my only point.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Are you sure you're not hanging out with Teach for America teachers? They are, in fact, drawn from top schools.

Not that I'm aware of. The ones I know were regular smart kids who moved to Chicago from all over the U.S. to attend the aforementioned universities and ended up deciding to stay because they liked the city. Not much different than young professionals I know in any other field, really. Of course, the amount of time they can tolerate teaching in the CPS is generally limited. By their 30's or 40's many end up commuting to the burbs to work in more functional systems or leaving education entirely to work in fields where they're better respected, paid more appropriately, and not constantly blamed for things outside of their control.

Perhaps the ones from Illinois State and Chicago State who don't have master's degrees are the ones who end up staying to tolerate the abuse because they don't have better options? Again, I've met none of them, so I have no idea. If they're commonplace I don't know where they're hiding.