Moving from London to Florida or Georgia, any advice? (Atlanta: house, rent)

[Quatro]

Wow, thankyou for the reminder not to allow my European arrogance rear its ugly head no matter how well travelled or educated I may be. I, however am Scottish and haven't got the slightest idea as to what you are talking about, we're about as real as it gets... Thankyou for your input you put a smile on my face, a few like you out there should make America a joy!
Au revoir.

quote=Caleb Longstreet;3695978]
Racism? Alive and well. And don't tell me you sing cumbaya in England either. If you did, the Pak's, Turks, and Hindu's wouldn't feel so pissed. No place is perfect. Florida and Georgia are no exception. The racism that is felt comes from generations of tolerance and hate dished in equal proportions.

Arrogance is never appreciated anywhere. Probably no more so than in the South of the US. Mind your manners, be who you really are and you will probably find people that are fascinated with your background and history. NO kidding. Act the aforementioned and prepare yourself to deal with every evil hypocrite the South, and America in general, has to offer.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by Quatro

Wow, thankyou for the reminder not to allow my European arrogance rear its ugly head no matter how well travelled or educated I may be. I, however am Scottish and haven't got the slightest idea as to what you are talking about, we're about as real as it gets... Thankyou for your input you put a smile on my face, a few like you out there should make America a joy!
Au revoir.

quote=Caleb Longstreet;3695978]
Racism? Alive and well. And don't tell me you sing cumbaya in England either. If you did, the Pak's, Turks, and Hindu's wouldn't feel so pissed. No place is perfect. Florida and Georgia are no exception. The racism that is felt comes from generations of tolerance and hate dished in equal proportions.

Arrogance is never appreciated anywhere. Probably no more so than in the South of the US. Mind your manners, be who you really are and you will probably find people that are fascinated with your background and history. NO kidding. Act the aforementioned and prepare yourself to deal with every evil hypocrite the South, and America in general, has to offer.

Don't let this scare you off...the average person you encounter here will be very kind and probably curious about your heritage (the majority of Southerners, myself included, are of Scotch-Irish heritage).

[TakeAhike]

[quote=Quatro;3685891]Hi, I am moving with my family to the US in about 8 weeks. We are initially moving to Panama City Fl for a month and to check out the Nth Florida area. We are planning to put the children into private school and now after reading some threads I am beginning to get worried as to whether they will make friends in a predominantly white environment. I can't believe this is going to be an issue, is it? Also are all the private schools church affiliated? Does anyone know of any non denominational private schools networks in Florida? Any suggestions of more liberal possibly bohemian areas to move to would be greatly appreciated. I love America and can't wait to move there but I am becoming increasingly worried. Many thanks.


There is a ton of FYI concerning schools in the 'Schools' thread in the Atlanta forum.

A few previous threads>>

Best Private Schools for Diversity

Moving from SF-In-Town or Burbs


Parents say that the Atlanta International School is good
Dunwoody is another area that would be diverse. Just north of Atlanta.
Intown/midtown areas of the city of Atlanta. Just about everything you might want to know is detailed in previous threads.

Decatur, GA has an excellent school system and is family oriented.
City of Decatur, GA

Decatur, Candler area, or Dunwoody schools?

In my opinion you will probably find metro Atlanta to offer more for your family.
Panama City and the FL panhandle are nice for vacations but I have known several people to move from there to Atlanta. Many more opportunities for employment and more well-rounded lifestyle.

'Live near your place of employment' is the best advice anyone can offer for Atlanta.

The public schools are a mixed bag. There are a number of schools in East Cobb County that consistently rank in the top 10 for the state. In depth analyses are available in the Schools thread. There are good/excellent schools in other areas of metro Atlanta but you have many factors to consider.

Posters in the Atlanta forum are generally very helpful if you have more specific questions. With many colleges and universities in the metro area I think your family will be welcomed.

Sometimes people vent frustrations online and then others read them and get the wrong ideas about places.

Plenty of reason for people to need to vent in the US as I imagine there is in the UK. 'Politics' for one --it is presidential election time again in the US. Drives me crazy.

hth

[LovinDecatur]

Good work, TakeaHike...rep point for you.

[Quatro]

[quote=TakeAhike;3699448][



Thanks again, lots of useful information this should keep me busy for a while. I checked out lastminutemom she's got a wealth of info thanks for that lead.

[247rs]

You chould check out Camden County GA. Located at exit one from Florida. 25 minutes to Jacksonville and home of Kings Bay Naval Base. Very exciting small town truely a commuter city to Jacksonville, FL and Brunswick, GA. Best schools and teacher within a 75 mile radius.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Caleb Longstreet

Florida and Georgia consistently rank in the bottom nationally second only to Mississippi (wow, spelled it correctly the first time) and perhaps, Louisiana (Got that one right too!).

Not true about GA and FL. Florida ranked a mipack 29th place in 2008 and Georgia ranked a still lackluster but better 41st. Florida has made MASSIVE improvements although Georgia is up/down. Mississippi is now 48th and Louisiana is 44th.

Smartest State 2006-2007 Current rankings
Smartest State Prior Years' Rankings Historical data (don't know why people like to dwell in the past so much)

[TakeAhike]

I don't mean to dispute what compelledtoreply said but from what my friend who teaches in So FL says and what others online have said it is rather puzzling that FL elementary schools are ranked so high.

Maybe the test scores from military schools or areas surrounding affluent cities are very, very high and balance the rest of the state.

I would take my chances in GA and I like my statistics with a shaker of salt and a frozen margarita.

[compelled to reply]

So FL is a different story and it depends on the individual school and personal experience no matter where it is. It's puzzling to them because they are biased towards negative and dwelling on the past or maybe they had a bad experience. It also depends on the district. Dade and St. Lucie County schools for example are positively horrific, Hillsborough or Broward schools are "average" and Seminole and St. Johns are generally renowned for running a tight ship.

Remember, 29th isn't "good", it's just not the absolute worst. Mediocrity beats horror though. Still, nobody moves to the sunbelt for good schools, the best ones are really up north. If (relatively) top notch public education and warm weather is a concern then Texas and North Carolina generally set the bar the highest out of the warm weather states.

About the elementary schools, the link is dead, so I'm not going to make a statement that I can't back up. I'm just going to say that I "Heard" they are ranked 19th place however I have proof that they are not in the bottom 10 anymore. I know that generally speaking I never hear about a lot of problems with the elementary schools, even a lot of the inner city ones do pretty well and people seemed satisfied with them, and there are some successful middle schools but the high schools are in a sorry state.

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

So FL is a different story and it depends on the individual school and personal experience no matter where it is. It's puzzling to them because they are biased towards negative and dwelling on the past or maybe they had a bad experience. Still, nobody moves to the sunbelt for good schools, the best ones are really up north. If top notch public education and warm weather is a concern then Texas and North Carolina generally set the bar the highest.

It is 'puzzling' to me. I have posted in a number of forums and eventually the topic of education comes up. Every time a Floridian posts about schools it is pretty much the same.

I would assume that wherever you go in the US and across the globe you will hear many of the same stories about the lack of quality found in public education and the incompetence of teachers.
One poster, career military, said in his entire life, moving across the US, he never found truly competent teachers for his 3 children and explained how he dealt with this. Many parents feel the same.

I have heard more positive things about NC. Plenty of complaints from those in Texas. And, yes, I think the NE/New England has more highly educated people than any other area. Vermont may actually win the award for being the 'smartest state'.

??? States like Montana or North Dakota with fewer people no doubt are ranked higher than GA and other states but that seems a bit skewed.

Ah well.