Should I move out of QNs (neighborhoods, school district, college)

[QnsMvr]

Thinking of moving out of queens... I work in downtown manhattan and husband works in Brooklyn, we have a three year old...any ideas of good neighborhoods with good school systems, safe, and affordable? Queens is so expensive, and the school systems are not really good unless you want to go private...

[bluedog2]

Not sure there are neighborhoods in Brooklyn that are less expensive with better schools.It's pretty much the same.

Whether your child does well in the NYC school system is more dependent on you than anything else.I teach in The Bronx and some of our kids do well and get in to specialized high schools and go to college while some never get past the 8th grade.If the schools were total crap nobody would be going anywhere.The biggest factor is parental involvement and parental guidance.Kids with concerned and involved parents tend to do well while kids with no parental guidance or involvement tend to do poorly.

[QnsMvr]

Very true, however, I went to public school in Brooklyn and queens. By the time I reached high school I was so behind (I went to a private high school). While in elementary in junior high, I received honors, only to get to a high school that I had a lot of catching up to do. There are some schools where the teachers care enough to teach the kids and educate them to prepare them for the curriculum ahead, while others that just go to work to get a pay check. Overall, my experience in the NYC public school system has shown me that...its better to go private. I did not lack motivation or intelligence, just wasn't taught the right material.

[bluedog2]

So nobody in the public schools you went to ever went to a specialized high school or to college ?

I have taught in 3 different NYC schools in my career and have always found parental involvement to be the biggest factor in the final educational outcome.Individual schools do tend to have different cultures but the parental involvement or non involvement tends to supersede all other factors in my experience.

[StreetBAller85]

i would never advocate someone to move out of queens, its the best borough

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Check out the Catholic schools (even if you're not Catholic) in Queens. Many of them do a good job preparing their grammar school grads for the challenges of competitive high schools.

Otherwise, you're next alternative is to move to a suburban school district that offers challenging academic programs for motivated and hardworking students.