So...where did YOU go to high school? (St. Louis, Ladue: neighborhood, high schools)

[Bobster]

Bilikins: I agree with you whole heartedly that community colleges are an excellent option for some people and that the classes can be every bit as rigorous as those at a 4 year school. I also agree with you that if somebody wants to go to a more expensive private school as opposed to a state school that more of the burden should be on them to pay for it.

That said, I think that a kid who wants to go to a Mizzou or an Auburn or any other "state" school should be properly funded and that means that they shouldn't have to live like a monk. Regarding that mother of 3 or the 60 year olds, great for them! They should be properly funded too!

Regarding your last point about helping the poor first, I think that EVERYBODY should have a right to an education, Poor, Middle-class and rich. Educating our citizens is or should be simply a cost of doing a society's business.

To those of you who think that this concept is somehow some form of "socialism" it's not. It's actually a conservative economic proposal in that according to conservative economic dogma that government's only legitimate role is to provide goods that the public needs but that the free markets either "Won't" provide or "don't" provide in an adequate amount to meet the needs of the citizens.

Education qualifies under these guild lines. The better educated a society the more efficient it is. A more efficient society is better able to compete on a global scale, therefore we, as a country, "need" higher education.

The fact that such a high percentage of our kids don't go to college and that of the kids who do attempt to go to college that such a high percentage of these kids aren't able to succeed at due to economic pressures, goes to the point that the free markets don't or won't provide education of our populous in an adequate amount.

[Manders378]

Wow thats intresting, I never knew "Where did you go to High School" was a St Louis thing! Thats intresting!

I graduated from Oakville in 1997 My Husband Graduated from Oakville in 1986!

I have 3 Siblings all Graduated from Oakville as well
Brother Graduated in 1986
Sister Graduated in 1988
Brother Graduated in 1990

[birthsister]

This thread has really veered off its initial purpose, hasn't it?

To get back on track...

I graduated from Lutheran South.
My dad is a Bayless grad (had attended Maplewood for 2 years before they moved to Affton).
My stepmother is a Beaumont grad.

My kids, I hope, will be charter school grads - there should be a charter high school in South City in the next few years, if all goes as planned, because I cannot fork over the LHSS tuition (it has more than quadrupled since my sibs and I were there in the 80s/90s).

[LAangel9190]

I graduated from Gateway Academy, 2008
My sister Notre Dame, 05
my brother CBC '96
My mom graduated from St. Alphonsus Rock on Grand, and my dad from Southwest, now central V&P on Kingshighway!

[jskirwin]

St. Louis U. High - 1985. Left St. Louis soon afterward and have lived in California and Japan most of that time before finding myself in Phillies territory.

Best education I ever got. Worth every penny. It's almost tempting to move back so that my son could go there.

[alikat1205]

I'm from New Orleans, and this question is always asked there as well.
Now that I'm here, no idea where to send my kids. My daughter will be in h.s. next year and we're looking at Kennedy, Incarnate Word, and Ursuline. Any thoughts? Should we look at another? If we we still in NO I'd know exactly where I'd want her to go, but here......

[STLnative]

I have to agree with Fish that the question IS both elitist AND small mentality..(the fragmented mentality of a medium sized metro area, or big small town if you will).
I mean, really...just what IS it they want to KNOW? Methinks they are 'sizing you up' to be put into some 'category' without even knowing you. Kids go to whatever school they end up in and that is mostly the result of the socioeconomic level of their parents at that time, hardly any basis of judgment on a personality, yet many St. Louisans cannot seem to get past such shallow thought.
Love St. Louis, but agree with Fish that this is one thing I like about this town I like LEAST.

[ucfjtm]

Originally Posted by aragx6

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.

Try that with anyone from outside the USA. Asking what someone does for a living is considered extremely rude in most of Europe and much of Asia, because it implies that you're trying to gauge how much money they make within seconds of meeting them. I never ask that question within the first few events of meeting someone.. usually only if the subject is already in discussion.

I lived at Scott AFB for a couple years as a kid, and I visit STL often, but I'm curious how others will react to my answer of the "high school" question, since I graduated from a Florida beach town high school. That *is* a question among locals in my hometown, since of the 4 high schools that were around when I graduated, you immediately get pigeonholed into either the redneck high school, the military brat high school, the well-rounded high school, or the ghetto high school. It seems like STL works in a similar way.. I'll be moving to STL within 6 months, so this will be interesting...

For who cares.. I went to Choctawhatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, FL.. class of '97.

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Originally Posted by ucfjtm

That *is* a question among locals in my hometown, since of the 4 high schools that were around when I graduated, you immediately get pigeonholed into either the redneck high school, the military brat high school, the well-rounded high school, or the ghetto high school. It seems like STL works in a similar way.. I'll be moving to STL within 6 months, so this will be interesting...

there's a few more categories here...

believe me, not everyone here tries to size you up by what high school you attended. i have had more conversations about how silly that question is and how much we all hate it though than actually being asked. you will probably primarily hear this all through the central corridor/west county/south city and southwest county but that's also where a lot of transplants settle as well. theres also probably two "systems" of bars here in south city-ones where you will overhear that question and ones where half the people probably have no idea about it. all classes do it, however, its not always meant to be snotty.

[aragx6]

See I agree that everyone does it, and I think it would be silly to claim there's no snotty level too it, but I'd argue it's hardly the only piece. I've had very funny conversations with people (even here in Chicago) where we find out we know some similar people from back home because of this question. It's a pride thing, a tie to home thing.