Questions about raising family in Chicago

[cap1717]

Originally Posted by chet everett

cap1717:

Which suburb did your parents move to that was so lacking?

They moved to an area in the county, smack dab between Wheaton and Winfield. It was a 4-5 mile walk to either burg. . ..

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by mh7

I don't think that the curriculum is necessarily much better, I think the major benefit is that the peers your children will deal with will be much more motiviated/pushed by their parents than your average cps student; peer pressure to be successful is a big component of education in my opinion.

My wife & I are struggling with the same questions now. We are expecting our first child this summer & would prefer to stay in the city, but we aren't sure about the schools. I grew up in NYC and went to public schools my whole life, but I also went to the most selective public school in the city (possibly the country too, our acceptance rate was < 3%). I would prefer for my child to have the same experience, but the admissions criteria in Chicago are nebulous for the better schools (in NYC, admissions to the top schools is based solely on the results of a single test, as opposed to the mixture of exams / attendance / grades / racial / economic quotas & payoffs that they have here in Chicago).

I agree w/you that the peers (as well as the parents in a community) are a big contributing factor to educational success. I also agree that the admission criteria of the highly selective CPS schools can be very nebulous. We are not minorities or economically needing (and did not know who to pay off ) so were not sure if the kids would receive admission. Interestingly, the kids did place in the upper 1% on testing which earned them placement in our suburb's selective gifted magnet school. However, I'm still not sure if these scores would have earned them a spot in a CPS gifted school. We just could not be sure. The kids did attend a private, "classical" college-prep school for a year. I guess we lived the "Buffy and Jody" city life for awhile and we found it even more sheltering than living in a suburb (some of their friends actually had bodyguards that watched them at school and attended playdates w/them - very strange). And, in hindsight, I don't believe the $20K private school curriculum was much better than our free public suburban school's curriculum (in fact, I feel our public gifted school has a better math/science program).

I sometimes still question our decision. That's why I try to get the kids to the city as often as possible so they can experience all the cultural diversity it has to offer. And as soon as the kids finish school, we'll move back (or we may even buy a weekend condo B4 that). I guess you just have to find the right fit for your family and then you'll probably second guess it just like us....

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by thevintageguy

Are you willing to share which specific suburb you chose? I'm still leaning towards the city. I like what I've seen in Streeterville area, and as long as Ogden Elementary isn't like a scene out of Dangerous Minds it should be ok. I'm still researching and will hopefully be making several trips to Chicago in the next year or so to scope things out.

We are in Barrington (2 blocks from the train, 1 block from school and parks, 2 blocks from the library). But there are many suburbs (some closer to the city) that are family-friendly and offer these amenities w/in walking distance. Also, I am not familiar w/Ogden so perhaps it is a good fit for your children. Sounds like you're doing a good job researching it. I also thoroughly researched schools by interviewing principals/teachers, touring schools, observing classes, comparing textbook curriculums, talking to parents, etc... Get as much info as you can before making your decision...

[thevintageguy]

Does anyone have any opinion on Lincoln Elementary located in Lincoln Park? The online stats look decent.

[chet everett]

ISAT sucks, it is TOO DAMNED EASY, basically if the school does not have a LARGE MAJORITY of students EXCEEDING state standards it is really doing a miserable job...