So...where did YOU go to high school? (St. Louis, Chesterfield: mortgage, credit)

[WestCoDude]

Originally Posted by aragx6

To suggest that monogamy and illegitimacy are the causes is short-sighted. Poverty is the root cause. There are many one-parent families in the middle and upper classes and their children do have the same problems in school as in poor families.

But poverty doesn't just *happen*. There is usually a root cause behind it. And in much of the city--it is tattered, broken, and fatherless families.

[aragx6]

Poverty absolutely does happen, and I reject the notion that it has anything to do with being fatherless. Education is the issue- in another thread you say the Catholic schools in St. louis provide a good education to those who live in the city- what you should say is for those who can afford it.

We now live in a society where often having a college education isn't good enough to get a good job- if you don't have a decent high school education, you're pretty much doomed to live your life in poverty- dad or no dad.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by aragx6

I'll agree that it's a little elitest (Ok probably a lot elitest), and sometimes I do wonder what people will think when I say Francis Howell, but when you're far from home and meet someone from St. Louis and you can have a good laugh about this, it makes you feel like home isn't so far away after all.

Fishtacos, you;re honestly telling me you've never gone to a party and asked someone what they did for a living? It's a big part of who a person is, and it is a great way to start a convo with someone.

Actually, no, I don't. Sure once I get to know someone, over time, you learn what they do for a living, but I can learn a lot about someone new without asking what they do for a living. Let's say I am out at a party or event or bar or somewhere, with some people that I don't know, I am more interested in having fun in that moment(s) than I am in talking about work, theirs or mine with people I don't know. It's boring to me, and, it's also a way for people to size people up that they don't know superficially. It's very common. I'm just not into that. I learn more about people that way.

I don't agree with what someone does for a living is a big part of who they are....it "can" be....but not always.

Maybe they love what they do, maybe they don't, maybe they have done it many years, maybe it's temporary. Take any profession, randomly, ....I know some pretty kind, intelligent, ethical, fun, interesting, selfless doctors, and I know some who portray the opposite characteristics, or in-between or different. I can do this with any profession. I just don't find it interesting conversation the first time I meet someone I don't know, and I'm not much of a fan.

[Bobster]

Earlier in the post somebody said something about being threatened with being sent to Southwest High when they were going to Duburg....At Southwest a lot of the kids who got kicked out were sent to Duburg! Funny how the perspective can change.

[jojojohnson76]

I've never been asked what high school did I go to, and I think many St Louisans will echo that.

[goldenmom]

Aw, you guys are making me homesick for St. Louis! I have been in Denver for three years and not once has anyone asked me where I went to high school! I found so much humor in this topic as I had forgotten that people do that all the time in St. Louis.

Just incase you are wondering, I am a Parkway Central graduate. I won't mention the year because it might make me sound really old!

[aragx6]

Will you actually share though? Depending on the year you might have known one of my folks, they and all their siblings went to central and my grandmother was a teacher there for years and years!

[anduarto]

Have to agree with the post that said poverty DOES just happen. People are born into it, it's all they know or see, it's what they learn, the cycle perpetuates itself.

Unwanted pregnancies, illiteracy and broken families are some of the results, not the cause of poverty.

(Of course, you can also find lots of broken families in wealthy communities. They just don't seem to bother us as much).

Exceptional individuals will always succeed no matter what you throw at them. Certain troubled individuals will always fail no matter what advantages they have. It's most of us in the middle that are directly affected by whatever situation we're born into.

If you're born into a privileged educated middle-class situation, you'll probably succeed even if you're of only average intelligence and ability.

If you've born into poverty, with no tradition of education and little opportunity, and you're only of average intelligence and ability, you'll probably fail.

As a person of only average character, I thank my parents for the privilege and opportunity the gave me. I don't think I would have been able to "rise above."

For hundreds of years we tore african-american families apart, tried to break their spirit at every turn and told them, right up until the 1960's that they were "less than" the white people around them. We burned it into their psyche. Now we're surprised that all this hasn't healed in a few generations.

[thimlee]

I went to parkway west (tells you everything u need to know amirite); ended up going to wash u. in st.louis (shocking I know) and yeah, pretty much any "ice-breaker" type deal they'd have us do for a class or on the dorm floors was to chat up everyone about where they're from and so on, and as soon as someone says "St. Louis" they don't even bother to wait for you to ask what highschool; usually they just offer it up cuz they see that twinkle in your eye.

If they went to another public school the conversation will continue but if they're one of those chaminade or priory pricks they'd get a cold shoulder; I'm ok with CBC or burroughs tho (I have standards).

[WantToMoveToMaine]

Well, I'll play although I always thought this was a dumb game... I am a graduate of Francis Howell High School, class of 93. However, I don't think that defines me, in fact I know it doesn't define me. I've not kept in touch with anyone from there, and I doubt anyone from there could tell you what I'm up to. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't some kind of outcast or anything, but I just never really felt at home there! I agree with Fishtaco, great name by the way, that what a person does for a living doesn't necessarily define what kind of person they are. Some people live to work and other work to live. Anyway, just thought I'd chime in. I can't say that I'm looking forward to moving back to St. Louis after being away for several years, it will have to do for the next couple years, but like I said sometimes you have to work to live...