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Boston and DC seem to be along a similar donut hole path as San Francisco. They also have 1/5-1/6 of their metro's populations. From what I can tell, San Francisco has decent schools, at least as big city school districts go.
That is true, but that doesn't mean that the decline is from bad schools. Much of San Francisco is just a bad deal price-wise. A childless couple might be fine with a one bedroom or small two bedroom, but a family with kids will want more space, which will be extra $$ in San Francisco over a similar size housing elsewhere in the region.
It looks like San Francisco schools are about equally Asian and Hispanic, with a little over 10% of white and black kids each.
That is true, but that doesn't mean that the decline is from bad schools. Much of San Francisco is just a bad deal price-wise. A childless couple might be fine with a one bedroom or small two bedroom, but a family with kids will want more space, which will be extra $$ in San Francisco over a similar size housing elsewhere in the region.
I'd say, that doesn't necessarily mean the decline is from bad schools. There are a lot of factors, for sure, in a decision of where to locate. However, a "bad schools" rep is a sure deal-breaker for lots of people. You see that on the city forums.
For school purposes, attracting the very wealthy may be less than ideal, as the very wealthy will send their kids to private school rather than deal with the public schools.
Upper East Side wealthy, sure, but many "conventionally" upper middle/lower upper class families earning in the mid sixes, while they could theoretically afford to drop $30k per year per child on fancy private schools, would much rather save the money for their kids' college funds, retirement, a vacation home, and other longer-term investments. Hell, even if I were to someday be earning in the millions, that just seems like a waste to me. I think a lot of urban enthusiasts fitting that demographic profile would send their kids to inner city public schools if they felt they "could." It's very much a chicken/egg problem. A couple Philly K-8 catchments have become objectively "good" through concerted parental efforts. It's really a matter of getting a critical mass of parents willing to use their children as "Guinea pigs."
In general though, I do see class divides in cities getting worse before they get better. Philly is becoming both more upper middle/upper class AND poor. Our conventionally middle class population has been leaking out to the suburbs for decades.
Last edited by ElijahAstin; 04-26-2013 at 09:06 AM..
Man, we do have some expensive prep schools here but the catholic schools really aren't that expensive. Maybe our archdiocese is especially wealthy or something.
Man, we do have some expensive prep schools here but the catholic schools really aren't that expensive. Maybe our archdiocese is especially wealthy or something.
Catholic/truly parochial schools tend to be more affordable across the board. I'd have zero interest sending my kids to a Jewish day school though, much less a Catholic one.
Catholic/truly parochial schools tend to be more affordable across the board. I'd have zero interest sending my kids to a Jewish day school though, much less a Catholic one.
Me neither. Nuns terrify me. Luckily we have lots of good and unique public options here.
In my area, the public suburban high schools are better than the Catholic schools, although that of course doesn't mean anything to any one student.
It really depends on what part of the country you're in, in conjunction with your socioeconomic surroundings. The Catholic schools where I'm from aren't any better than many suburban school districts either. The only truly top-shelf private schools are the ones that cost in the $20ks-plus, and these aren't better enough to be worth the cost IMO. Where I am, the "benefit" of private schools for families living in otherwise good to excellent districts is the values they teach and/or the peer groups who attend.
Me neither. Nuns terrify me. Luckily we have lots of good and unique public options here.
I was amused in the conversation I had with this girl that she hated Catholic school so much she'd rather go to a bad public school.
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