Why are there so many threads trashing South Side and West Side neighborhoods? (Chicago: low crime, magnet schools)

[leykiya10]

I have lived on the west side all of my life. It amazes me how people who have never lived out here can completely disrespect it. "Poverty" thats how people discribe this place. Being here, I see hard working people who are trying to make something of themselves. Never once in my entire lfe have i been jacked, seen a gun, been in the same room as drugs, felt afraid for my life. And what really amazes me is the South Side vs West Side conflict that has been going on for years. The south side has areas that look so much like the west side i forget where i am. But just the fact that some people from the south side feel like they're better just kills me. I happen to go to one of the best college prep schools in the city. Our test scores are waaaaay over the nation average. I'm on the nation honors society....wow, and im a product of the west side. So before you think you even have the RIGHT to judge us, live with us and see for yourself.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by leykiya10

I have lived on the west side all of my life. It amazes me how people who have never lived out here can completely disrespect it. "Poverty" thats how people discribe this place. Being here, I see hard working people who are trying to make something of themselves. Never once in my entire lfe have i been jacked, seen a gun, been in the same room as drugs, felt afraid for my life. And what really amazes me is the South Side vs West Side conflict that has been going on for years. The south side has areas that look so much like the west side i forget where i am. But just the fact that some people from the south side feel like they're better just kills me. I happen to go to one of the best college prep schools in the city. Our test scores are waaaaay over the nation average. I'm on the nation honors society....wow, and im a product of the west side. So before you think you even have the RIGHT to judge us, live with us and see for yourself.

Congrats on your success in school. I think that most people who rag on the West Side are reacting to the gangs, crime, and decay. I certainly would never judge a person based on where they were from, and have the utmost respect for people who grow up in tough conditions and make decent lives for themselves.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by leykiya10

I have lived on the west side all of my life. It amazes me how people who have never lived out here can completely disrespect it. "Poverty" thats how people discribe this place. Being here, I see hard working people who are trying to make something of themselves. Never once in my entire lfe have i been jacked, seen a gun, been in the same room as drugs, felt afraid for my life. And what really amazes me is the South Side vs West Side conflict that has been going on for years. The south side has areas that look so much like the west side i forget where i am. But just the fact that some people from the south side feel like they're better just kills me. I happen to go to one of the best college prep schools in the city. Our test scores are waaaaay over the nation average. I'm on the nation honors society....wow, and im a product of the west side. So before you think you even have the RIGHT to judge us, live with us and see for yourself.

Was this in response to anything in particular?

[Humboldt1]

I live on the west side and hope that one day it can return to the area it used to be prior to the decline of chicago' manufacturing base. Brach's candy was a huge casualty of nafta when they shifted production to mexico.

I hope you do well and you seem bright and articulate based upon your post. I oversee commercial banking for a number of branches and one of my managers lives in Austin. He is a 55 year old guy who works in Park Ridge, talk about contrast. He flat out asked me what a white guy such as myself was doing in Humboldt Park (I am literally the only white guy within a few blocks).

The fact is the west side has experienced a long decline which started even before the riots of 68. My hope is gentrification can rid the area of many of the gangs and drug activity but this will take a long time.

You may be succeeding as a product of CPS but you are unfortunately the exception. I know a guidance counselor at Clemente. Of those who graduate, less than 10 percent go to college, of these only 25 percent graduate from 4 year schools. I grew up in poor rural Indiana and our graduation rates from university were 10 times that, which at 25 percent of those who graduate is too low (68 percent graduation rate btw).

I have been jacked, feared for my life and seen people rolling and smoking drugs. I have seen guns and seen them used in shootings.

I know you have seen guns, whether on police or with criminals. I have seen cops with guns in highland park and winnetka.

West side CPS test scores are not above national average. I can back this with illinois school stats.

Where are you on the west side. If you are a student at lane tech or whitney young you may be correct regarding test scores, but as a whole west side school test scores and CPS as a whole are abysmal.

I am not sure where you get that people on the south side think they are better than th west side. Both areas have their challenges, and hopefully can improve.

Leykiya,
Would you seriously want to raise a family in chicago given the state of CPS? The only way I would raise a family would be with magnet schools or sending my kids to private school. I would rather just like in Oak Park or River Forest with good schools and low crime, especially River Forest.

[Drover]

It's unfortunate that, despite being in a highly ranked school and being in "nation honors society," you are incapable of separating criticisms of the West Side in general from criticisms of every single person who lives there. The West Side has some very real problems that need to be discussed openly and honestly if there is ever any chance of addressing and resolving them. Taking general criticisms of the West Side personally is logically fallacious and counterproductive.

[Manigault]

Yes people in general rag on the west side and its really ignorant for folks who have not been west to make generalities about it. But ...

The south side vs. west side rivalry is a little like Brooklyn vs. the Bronx with a difference (and those two boroughs jape at each other all the time). The west side current residents and their progeny arrived in Chicago about 20-30 years later than those on the south so they are considered arrivistes or, less politely, country bumpkins.

Couple that with the fact that the south side is much larger and that it is generally more affluent (or less indigent), remember "K town" is on the west side, and you have a formula for a lot of jokes by south siders at the expense of the west side. Don't be so sensitive -- we were only funnin'!

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Congrats on your success in school. I think that most people who rag on the West Side are reacting to the gangs, crime, and decay. I certainly would never judge a person based on where they were from, and have the utmost respect for people who grow up in tough conditions and make decent lives for themselves.

Couldnt have said it any better myself.

[Humboldt1]

Drover,

Seriously, give this kid a break. They are in high school. I doubt very much I would have been able to articulate their comments nearly half as well as they did in their original post when I was their age.

leykiya10,

You may have made some generalizations in your post, but I felt your post was very well thought out. I am 30 years old and made generalizations all the time, some more valid than others.

Where will you be attending college and when do you graduate high school?

[Drover]

Yeah, they are in high school. I got that part. When you're in high school, you're old enough to have your beliefs and your claims challenged and rebutted as fervently as you assert them and to learn that how you state a matter will shape the responses you receive. High schoolers are too old to be coddled.

[Humboldt1]

Drover,

When I was in high school I was busy rounding up cattle and driving tractors. I had no clue about Chicago and its neighborhoods. The original poster is at most 18 years old and related the experiences they know. The west side does get a bad rap, some of it warranted, some not.

I personally believe there is a lot of room for improvement on the west side. I don't see the south side as better or worse than the west side as some assert. Instead, I think both areas can learn from one another in order to improve as a whole.

I still believe high schoolers should be given some slack. Call it coddling if you must.