[valene1992]

Hi, just wondering is Conneticut a good place to live I'm considering moving there... how's it like i heared Glastonbury is good. Is there writing department good?I'm getting into journalism possibly or teaching
please help! like hows the weather like..how is it doing econoically..?
is it safe..?

[JayCT]

valene 1992 - Connecticut is a wonderful place to live. It is full of scenic beauty, has a number of small liveable cities and is accessible to so many different areas including mountains, seashore, big cities and quiet countryside. We have all four seasons here, meaning the winter can be cold and gray with snow. The summers are warm and the Spring is usually wet. The fall is fantastic with the lush treed landscape turning a rainbow of bright colors. I love it here.

I am not sure what your question on the "writing department" is asking. Are you talking about the public schools? If so, Glastonbury schools are among the best in the state with students performing well above the state averages on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test. The high school does offer a number of writing courses and encourage students that are interested in this. I hope this helps. Jay

[kidyankee784]

Originally Posted by JayCT

If so, Glastonbury schools are among the best in the state with students performing well above the state averages on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test. The high school does offer a number of writing courses and encourage students that are interested in this. I hope this helps. Jay

I keep reading that so many schools are "among the best in the state" simply due to CAPT and Mastery test scores. However, standardized testing does not measure how great a school district is or whether or not a certain district is among the top in the state. In reality, all these tests do is widen the gap between the wealthy districts and the poorer districts. Parents in Westport, Southbury and Avon are able to afford a CAPT tutor or SAT prep courses whereas parents in Hartford or West Haven cannot fit this into their budget. I grew up in a fairly upscale community in Fairfield County where going to SAT prep classes in high school was the norm (this was 10 years ago). About 60% of the students in my grade attended them. I'm a strong believer that how good a school district is means how hard you work in that school. Sure, many schools have a more rigorous curriculum which challenges students more, but standardized testing is no way to rank a district as a whole. In my opinion, a good school district is one that is diverse, worldly, efficient and has dedicated staff & faculty.

The school systems in Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven are not as bad as people make them out to be - it's those who occupy the halls that need a little cleaning up.

Is Connecticut a great place to live? Absolutely, IMO, it has an excellent quality of life, top notch schools and is more moderate politically. But when it comes to individual cities and towns in Connecticut, people can be very elitist when distinguishing one from another.

[JayCT]

When someone with a family is moving to a town they are not familar with, they want to know how the schools are. They usually do not know Bridgeport from Berlin or Hartford from Harwinton. While I agree that standardized test scores do not tell the whole story, it is the only quantitative way to differentiate between districts. I also usually add information about class size in order to give an idea of the ability for personalized student attention. Even this is not perfect but there is no better way to answer these types of questions unless you go to each school and spend a LOT of time finding out about them. In most cases this is not possible. It is just one small piece of information that a person can use to decide where to live. Jay

[donnas57]

Hi Valene,

CT is a great place to live.. My son is also an aspiring Journalist. He graduates this Spring from college. He would love to be a sports writer (ESPN is in Connecticut) Last summer he interned at the Hartford Courant (and they were great with him) and he still does articles for them from time to time. This semester he is interning at FOX TV which gives him insight into another side of communications.
As an aspriring Journalist, make a list of questions you want to ask and set up a date with the schools you are thinking of .... Ask them if they have any affiliation with local colleges to provide courses/workshops etc for high school students. I know Yale offers programs to students in the Amity (Woodbridge,ORange,Bethany,CT) schools and I am sure Southern CT University may do something similar. Ask about Magnet Schools, thats where you can (if there are openings and they accept you) you can apply to go to a school in another town that suits you better like the School for Performing Arts, or the Sound School in New Haven.

Research the school newspaper and see if it appeals to you and if they have openings.. Also, many local papers have columns written by high school students giving their insight to things.
Here is a site that may interest you ASNE High School Journalism -

Many schools now have Media Clubs or classes and Internet techniques (such as Html etc) which I would highly recommend as most writings are geared to be on the Internet.

Good Luck...

[vvolin]

As a newcomer, I have a newcomer insight on things. When we first announced to some of our friends we were moving to CT, they called it "a piece of heaven". They were right in many ways. We live in Glastonbury. The landscape is beautiful, the snow is magic, the peace of town living may be a little too "peaceful" for me, but it is ideal for my children. The schools seems to be very good, although it often all comes down to the teacher you have. People are not particularly friendly, compared to Italy, the midwest and South Florida, the only other places I lived in, and it may take us longer to find our place here and be accepted. Some things I will never like: the lack of diversity, the overall opinion that people here have of themselves: that they are tolerant, open-minded, and educated, when they are instead just the same as any other placed I lived in. But overall I am happy we moved here. You can not have everything, but CT has a lot to offer. You just have to like what it offers....

[mydnyte8]

Connecticut is a nice place to live, but it can be on the expensive side. The good thing is that there is no tax on clothes and on selected food items. The location is also nice because it is in between several major cities. Glastonbury is a beautiful place to live, but it will probably be more expensive. The schools systems there are amazing.

[dataguy33]

the state bird is a american robin