non mormons moving to slc public or private schools (Salt Lake City: houses, neighborhood)

[cslaughter1]

BTW, "Mormons" are Christians - the name of the church is THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. Just wanted to clarify that before you move to Utah. :-) You shouldn't have any discrimination issues in Utah because you are not a Mormon.

[basileus]

I'm a move in from Palo Alto, Ca. We love it in SLC. We live in a great, comparable neighborhood (Yalecrest) that you'd feel right at home in in Palo Alto. The people here are great and the diversity is definitely growing. Also, we sent/are sending our kids to Judge and have had the best experience there. It is an amazing community and though it is a Catholic school, it is VERY diverse (I think only 60% of the student body is actually Catholic). Our kids had no problems adapting to the environment. I have found that there are MANY families who are also move-ins from all over the country who send their kids to Judge. With the economy here back on the upswing, I have noticed many businesses moving here and/or opening offices here. With that, comes the expanding diversity and families from other regions.

Anyway I would definitely take a good look at Judge. They have by far the best programs top to bottom--performing arts, athletics, AP honors courses, et all. We had our daughter in the IB program at West High and it turned out to be uninspiring from the social sense of things (besides, we have found that most universities back east and out west - Yale, Stanford, North Carolina, etc. don't care about the IB program). All I can say about Judge is look into it, take a free tour of the place and get a feel for it. They are SO friendlythere! In moving out to SLC my first worry was how are my kids going to adapt to this unique environment??? Thankfully, with Judge there were no worries.

[italian-in-utah]

Cottonwood Heights is a great diverse area which we live in. That is the Brighton school boundries. Also Juan Diego is a very large, new beautiful Catholic High School that is just as good as Judge!!!

[zena564]

I am a middle school teacher in Nevada. I just wanted to add that even though Utah has very high class sizes, Utah students perform better than most, if not all states. I will be moving to Utah to teach math. I am aware that I might have more students in my class. However, students are still performing well. I believe that Utah has the highest graduation rate.

[eggalegga]

Edited to remove because I posted my reply in the wrong thread. Sorry.

[mcsotan]

I'm pretty disappointed in the moderator at the moment for eliminating my post which told of my experience of being LDS and living in an area outside of Utah where Mormons are in the minority. It wasn't a preachy post at all. Since this whole thread and the original question was about what it's like to move to an area where you are in a minority religion, I thought it was entirely appropriate. But whatever!!

I'll try again...I think all kids go through that "not quite fitting in" experience, even if they do belong to the dominant religion. I did as an LDS teen living in Salt Lake City! Feeling awkward and self-conscious at times comes with the territory of growing up which is unavoidable. Even the most popular kids go through that angst to some degree. I'm sure if your son tries to get to know kids and is friendly and open-minded (not coming to Utah with a bag of defensivness), he'll get along fine. There are so many horror stories out there about being ostracized for not being a Mormon. But I think you need to consider the source of the story. It may be coming from a person who would have a hard time making friends anywhere in the world.

MY 30 yr highschool reunion was this past summer. ( Highland High- go Rams!)There we all were, all different religions, mingling and having a good time and renewing friendships. I honestly don't remember who was what but I know they weren't all LDS.

Come to Utah and enjoy all the beauty and great communities it has to offer!

[mawilson]

To the Original poster.
My family and I live in Utah and have our entire lives. We are non LDS and do not follow the 'norm; in the state. Saying this I can never tell you one time where i was ever shunned, or was considered 'different' from anyone else growing up or any time after that. We are actually considering moving out of Utah for the first time ever for us, but our main concearn is actually how it will effect our daughter. Although Utah does have some quirky laws regaurding Alcohol clubs ect, there is no denying that because of the main belief in family and what is should mean, that Utah is one of the best places for children and family. Just because you may not have the same ideas of the majority of the people in Utah does not mean you will be an outcast.

[Abstrakt]

I would be more concerned with the level of education rather than bias. The Utah education system is built around producing idiots. I went to school here in Salt Lake most my life and never felt unfairly shunned. I did feel however that the curriculum didn't change or progress from about 4th grade on. Every teacher I had in High school taught for less than ten minutes per class then handed out ridiculously easy work sheets for us to do the rest of the time.

That's Granite Elementary-Albion Middle School-Brighton High School.

I do feel the church may have something to do with this though it is just speculation. It has been proven religion is more easily and widely accepted by the ignorant. If Utahns become well educated than the LDS church.........

[stycotl]

i just escaped the 30-something (and 20-something) temperatures by going hiking in southern utah over the weekend. took my wife and my 15 month old daughter. that little kid is a natural hiker.

edit: just noticed how old this thread was...

someone earleir said something that i think is key: mentioned that he had never had a non-mormon-hate experience, or one that made him feel horribly ostracized or something. i think that a lot of people probably would have been highly offended at the experiences that he did encounter. i think that what it comes down to much of the time is willing to give the benefit of the doubt, to be aware that cultural differences are easy to blow up into bigger issues than they really are.

i do not think that this invalidates everyone who has a claim that they were neglected or ostracized in utah, cuz i have seen it occasionally (though it is not about religion as often as people think). but i do think that it means that we need to take a second look more often. give people the benefit of the doubt. i hope that people do that for me, and i certainly *try* to do it for others, though i am in no means perfect at it yet (ask my wife).

aaron out.

[jakcor86]

We lived in Clearfield, south of Ogden, from 2001 - 2003. Anyone who says the Mormons don't discriminate against non-Mormons is either Mormon or was born there and knows no better. These people keep maps posted in their homes, with Smiley faces on "members" homes, question marks on unknown homes, and Frowney faces on homes of those who refuse to convert. There is minimal separation of Church and State. A classic example is the State liquor commission - 4 out of 5 members are Mormon, whose religion forbids drinking alcohol. If you have school age children, plan on sending them to a private school and having no friends in the neighborhood.