Highland Park (Pittsburgh, Edgewood, Homewood: apartment, house, private school)

[gg]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

... we should want the City to head--toward having a school district that serves ALL sorts of students well, not just a district that gets good test scores because it excludes any student that faces any disadvantages.

The opportunities are there now, but the home life can be so outrageous for so many of these kids, I think survival would be higher on the list than any kind of education. Sure are lots of young people dying in the streets of some of these neighborhoods. Sometimes people get caught in the crossfire or get robbed for a drug habit of someone. Sure would be great to do something about that stuff. Maybe they can move to Cranberry, which happens to be my least favorite place in western PA.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

The opportunities are there now, but the home life can be so outrageous for so many of these kids, I think survival would be higher on the list than any kind of education. Sure are lots of young people dying in the streets of some of these neighborhoods. Sometimes people get caught in the crossfire or get robbed for a drug habit of someone. Sure would be great to do something about that stuff. Maybe they can move to Cranberry, which happens to be my least favorite place in western PA.

There is definitely only so much schools can do. Even beyond the violence issue, disadvantaged kids often don't get good nutrition and exercise, they don't get enough sleep, they don't get good medical care, they don't have a good place to do homework . . . lots of things we take for granted they don't have, and it is all a drag on school performance. So I agree we need to think holistically about kids, and not expect schools to do everything.

In general, I agree concentrated poverty is a bad thing . . . but moving concentrated poverty to the suburbs isn't solving that problem, just shifting it around. It really gets back to the threshhold question: if you can get people spread out enough such that no one place has a lot of concentrated poverty, overall violence will go down, educational outcomes will go up, and so on. It just isn't easy to get there from here.

[gg]

If you really wanted to do something about disadvantaged kids, it isn't just sending them to school with whitey and letting them go home to that messed up home life within that hood. You need a place for them to study with adults at the school after class. Feed them dinner and then have time in the gym to play sports for some enjoyment and send them home to try and sleep. Of course boarding them would be best, but who is going to pay for that? There are schools in other cities that hold lotteries to get in such places that the kids board there and get away from the horrible home lives. I can't remember where I saw that. It was very successful. Agassi might have started a school in Vegas like that? Don't know. It is a shame to keep seeing generation and generation of these disadvantaged kids keep going on and on.

I spent a lot of time in Helsinki Finland. It is amazing the difference over there compared to cities in the US. They don't have ANY of these neighborhoods that are dangerous and so loaded with drugs and poverty. When you get on a bus, it is clean and quiet. Very professional. Nothing like some of the bus routes in Pittsburgh. Obviously the black population is probably around .0001%, but I am not sure that is why it is so much better. I think after visiting there for months at a time, it made me different. It is now more upsetting to go through the bad areas. I look at them and think, why? Why can't people at least clean their yard a little? Why can't people have a tiny bit of pride? What is the real issue? I would move to Helsinki, but it is VERY expensive to live there. The standard of living is higher than here of course, but I would need to make quite a bit of money. I don't speak the language either. Everyone speaks English there as well, but not at the work place. I just brought that up as a comparison. I guess I dream that Pittsburgh can be so much better if some people would move in the burbs. Seems some people feel the same why looking at East Liberty's migration. Money being pumped in fast and buildings being torn down and new more expensive ones are being built. Will the whole place turn totally around? It might. What is next? The Hill? Homewood? With this continue? No idea.

[BrianTH]

Adopting the Finnish model would require a lot of big changes. They have universal health care. They have well-funded public transit. They fund what we call daycares and preschools. They have generous parental leave laws. And so on.

Incidentally, they tore down the projects in East Liberty, but they are also providing subsidized housing units in the new developments.

[Impala26]

I still can't comprehend how the Hill District is still as run-down as it is. I feel like anyone who's new to Pittsburgh would look at a map and expect the area between Downtown and Oakland to be more built up. Of all the neighborhoods labeled as "bad" in Pittsburgh, it's probably the best poised to make a rebound based on its location alone, but I suppose the factors against it must be really strong. I mean, isn't the number one factor in real estate location?

Sorry for keeping with the off-topic trend, but to keep more on topic, the message boards over at the Bike Pittsburgh website often to be discussing cyclists who are attacked in the vicinity of Peabody High and East Liberty Blvd. in general. As an avid cyclist I think it sucks because Highland Ave. and East Liberty Blvd. both make awesome bike routes (Highland is nice and wide and ELB has full bike lanes).

Also, you can't argue with northern Highland Park not only because of its location to the park proper, but also its proximity to the Zoo & Aquarium as well as being just across the river from the Waterworks Shopping Plaza. Trust me, avoiding Washington Boulevard completely would be a wonderful thing.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Impala26

I As an avid cyclist I think it sucks because Highland Ave. and East Liberty Blvd. both make awesome bike routes (Highland is nice and wide and ELB has full bike lanes).

Peabody High School is closing soon. It will make that area much better. I have seen a cyclist punched in front of me as I was riding my bike behind him. I was a ways back. I just rode at the punks and they backed down. I really did want to throw an elbow. In Muay Thai we call the elbow "the knife" because you can cut people's faces with it. Imagine riding a bike and using it in that fashion. You may really do some damage and I was at the ready to do so without question. If I had a gun, I probably would have pulled it out at the ready, that is the reason I don't have a gun.

Anyway, I think Highland Ave will become much better. I was riding there today coming back from Panther Hollow through the zoo and across the HP bridge. It was a great day to ride.

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Because the kids that live in the city that have parents that care very much about education send the kids to private schools.

No. Wrong. You obviously don't know many Colfax parents.

[gg]

Originally Posted by scrapp

No. Wrong. You obviously don't know many Colfax parents.

I am not "wrong", but I thank you for educating me. Is it only through 8th grade? It so, what happens then? Private school? I have been by that school many times and always wondered about it. I went to the website and it does look pretty good and I learned a few things. I commend the parents that care and are more involved. That is what it takes for certain. In that sense you are correct, I was unaware of Colfax. What does happen when the child goes to 9th grade? I know they can now choose schools if excepted, but are any of them any good? Even CAPA doesn't seem that great to be truthful. Are there others that may be a better avenue to education instead of worrying about surviving the day at school?

[BrianTH]

Colfax feeds into Allderdice, which is a pretty good high school, particularly if you participate in an honors or magnet program. Lots of graduates from Allderdice go to college, including many elite colleges. Here is a little information:

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Edit: Oh, and CAPA is obviously designed for people with particular interests, but by almost any reasonable measure it is one of the best high schools in the area.

[slamont61]

and in other news... Generalíssimo Francisco Franco is still dead.