the biggest problem with intown atlanta development (Decatur: condos, neighbourhood)

[10 feet tall]

I think it would be helpful if, when talking about this topic, posters would state up front if they have children, how many, and their ages. It would help tremendously in sorting out the different opinions.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Dkeating

The percentage of FRL population is highly correlated in most cases with test scores. This doesn't mean that the teachers are "bad" or that the kids are bad, it just means they have certain disadvantages that make it harder to score well on standardized tests.

A lot times, when people are looking for "good" schools, they are looking for, and are pointed to by other posters, schools with low FRL populations. People may be oblivious to this, and think that the main determinations of high test scores are teacher quality, parental involvement, or budget, but personally I think student poverty or lack thereof is the elephant in the room when we're talking about "good" schools.

I do not think its fair to assume since a kid is on FRL that they are somehow less of a student than one born into a wealthy family. Kids cannot choose the family they are born into.

[whodean]

Here we go with "fairness" again. Statistics don't deal with fairness, just reality.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by bu2

Only the last 50 years of data. Look at what people do, not what they say.

And when their families get to school age or middle school age, most will move to the burbs.
Or the neighborhood will change and get expensive while they moved in while prices were lower.

The suburbs have only really been around for 50 or so years.

Look at the recent trends. Less family's are moving to the suburbs. Not denying that many family's still choose to live out there. But heed your own advice, look at the trends for the last few years. The intown neighborhoods around where I am are stroller-city.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by jsvh

The suburbs have only really been around for 50 or so years.

Well, not really. A hundred years ago, Ansley Park was a suburb. Suburbs have always existed, they just tend to get consumed as the city proper grows and gobbles them up.

[Dkeating]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I do not think its fair to assume since a kid is on FRL that they are somehow less of a student than one born into a wealthy family. Kids cannot choose the family they are born into.

It's not a moral judgment, just a fact that when you have less starting out in life, when your parents didn't read/couldn't read to you, when you didn't have many/any books in the house, when your parents didn't have much schooling, when they had to work two or three jobs or couldn't hold or find a job at all, when you had to move constantly, your school performance would suffer.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Well, not really. A hundred years ago, Ansley Park was a suburb. Suburbs have always existed, they just tend to get consumed as the city proper grows and gobbles them up.

I agree that Ansley Park was originally a suburb. But our modern definition of a suburb did not exist until the rise of the car. But go back a little further and you will not even find streetcar suburbs. On a human scale, suburbs are a recent fad and not that common outside of America. The idea that you can only properly raise children in a single family home on half an acre is a false one.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by jsvh

The idea that you can only properly raise children in a single family home on half an acre is a false one.

You are spot on here. Wholly agree. It's a matter of preference more so than anything else. But, an, I was raised on hundreds of acres with creeks, woods, farming stuff, animals... Oftentimes I wish I could have raised my brood that way.

[whodean]

Originally Posted by jsvh

I agree that Ansley Park was originally a suburb. But our modern definition of a suburb did not exist until the rise of the car. But go back a little further and you will not even find streetcar suburbs.

This.

Ultimately the suburbs may become where those who cannot afford to live closer in-town will wind up.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jsvh

I agree that Ansley Park was originally a suburb. But our modern definition of a suburb did not exist until the rise of the car. But go back a little further and you will not even find streetcar suburbs. On a human scale, suburbs are a recent fad and not that common outside of America. The idea that you can only properly raise children in a single family home on half an acre is a false one.

Bear in mind that many of our "streetcar suburbs" were built with the automobile in mind. Garages, driveways, etc. were de rigeur.

I totally agree that you don't need a half acre to raise kids but they do need considerable elbow room.