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I believe you went to HF. Surely and outsider would not know specific teachers.
What town did you grow up in? And where were you born?
I am just trying to see if you are a transplant or if you were born and raised in Homewood/Flossmor.
I was not but know a lot of people who were (including a girl I dated a few years back). They have no interest in moving back and of their relatives that remain many are older.
I agree that HF is still a good school, just not what it once was. It is still better than a lot of other schools in all of Chicagoland and will remain so for at least the next 10 years. In 20 years, it will be interesting to see.
Given that my kids (not born yet) will be in high school at this time I have no interest in living in that area. I want to move into an area that is getting better or at least staying the same, not worse.
I pretty much grew up in homewood. I have other relatives who also live in flossmoor, homewood, matteson, and myself in olympia fields. My family has been living in the area for over 20 years. The south suburbs has it's problem areas and nice areas but so does every other area. No, flossmoor, olympia fields, homewood, etc. are not new rural suburbs. To each it's own, but in my opinion I do not see future trends in favor of more rural suburbs anyway. I find that more and more people of all races are becoming practical about what makes a high quality neighborhood. If you prefer living in a very nice brand new rural suburb in indiana or will county then god bless. Or, if you can afford to pay $400 per square foot to live in a better suburb like glencoe, hinsdale, or lake forest then great. To be honest I would consider most areas to be a downgrade. Alot of the same things that you will find in a hinsdale or winnetka you will find right here and I do not see myself moving anywhere else. People of all walks of life live in this area and probably feel the same way. If they were going to move to new lenox, indiana, or frankfort they would have done it by now. How else do you explain the economic success and racial diversity in the area that continues to move in? Not people who have been living here for 20 years, but those like myself who move back, those who have moved here recently and have made a long term investment in the area buying and building new expensive homes. The new businesses in the area? Decline, I think not.This area has alot of things that areas on the north shore which are twice as expensive have. Award winning schools, 7 golf courses, Extremely nice homes by any standard that are both new and older ranging from middle class affordable to high net worth multimillion dollar new mansions and older estates, an educated higher income population, nice historic downtowns, several metra train stations in walking distance. HF is currently ranked in the top 5 percent of schools in the united states. http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010...ools/list.html . What did it decline from the top 1 percent? The fact of the matter is there are a whole lot of high schools in very nice chicagoland suburbs that don't even compare to homewood-flossmoor.
Last edited by allen2323; 10-08-2010 at 08:24 PM..
I agree that Flossmor is a great area and much better than many other areas in Chicago.
Top 5 percent is still very good but not nearly as good as top 1 percent.
If I have a 1300 SAT that is pretty good but if I have 1500 SAT it is much better. 1300 doesn't make me dumb, just less aptitude than the guy who scored 1500.
Still, if that 1300 is trending toward 1200 and then 1000 there is cause for concern and that guy isn't getting into Harvard or even a decent state school.
HF is currently ranked in the top 5 percent of schools in the united states. America's Best High Schools: The List - Newsweek . What did it decline from the top 1 percent? The fact of the matter is there are a whole lot of high schools in very nice chicagoland suburbs that don't even compare to homewood-flossmoor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Humboldt1
Allen,
Top 5 percent is still very good but not nearly as good as top 1 percent.
The Newsweek ranking system is completely useless. The only thing it's good for is to sell magazines. That's it.
Here's how their list is determined: Take the total amount of AP tests given each year and divide it by the amount of graduating seniors. Yep. That's it. It doesn't even adjust for how well - or how poor for that matter - the kids scored.
Here are some snipits from Newsweek's own FAQs about their scoring system:
Quote:
We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors graduating in May or June.
Quote:
Some critics say that some of the schools on the NEWSWEEK list have low average test scores and high dropout rates and thus do not belong on any list of best high schools.
Quote:
We do not include any magnet or charter high school that draws such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT score significantly exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country.
To get on the list, the kids just have to attemp to take the AP test. They could all fail miserably. They could draw doodles on their test. But their school could still make the list.
A better judge of a "Best" high school should have some kind of test scores involved in the calculation. Newsweeks does not.
The Newsweek ranking system is completely useless. The only thing it's good for is to sell magazines. That's it.
Here's how their list is determined: Take the total amount of AP tests given each year and divide it by the amount of graduating seniors. Yep. That's it. It doesn't even adjust for how well - or how poor for that matter - the kids scored.
Here are some snipits from Newsweek's own FAQs about their scoring system:
To get on the list, the kids just have to attemp to take the AP test. They could all fail miserably. They could draw doodles on their test. But their school could still make the list.
A better judge of a "Best" high school should have some kind of test scores involved in the calculation. Newsweeks does not.
Actually, the results of seniors who passed an advanced placement exam are shown under E & E. At Homewood-Flossmoor 84 percent of seniors passed atleast one AP test which is extremely high. Some of what you mention that newsweek does is done to combat a chronic problem in highly competitive high school academia of limiting access to Advance placement courses, ACT Testing, gaming the system by limiting there weakest students from taking state exams, etc., to keep the results artificially high. Newsweek attempts to put a heavy emphasis on the overall performance of the entire student body including those students that many high schools would like to just forget about by making the number of actual test taken important. What is the ratio of test being taken to the total number of seniors is there first criteria. Rationing education and academic experience to achieve feel good numbers is done at the expense of the rest of the the student body who's full educational potential and academic future has been sacrificed to achieve those feel good numbers. http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010...ools/list.html
Last edited by allen2323; 10-09-2010 at 01:25 AM..
You do realize that not ALL of the suburbs in Indiana are rural? Munster, Highland, and Schererville are not really rural at all. Just saying.
And really, I do respect the love that you have for Homewood and the area. You are the type of resident that the area needs. However, there are too many people in the surrounding area that pose a serious threat to the future of the area. It is not because of their race/ethnicity, gender, or age. It is because of the culture many grew up in: the culture of "I don't care, I get what I want, from who I want, when I want it" without regarding the fact that many others in the area have worked their whole LIVES to get what some of these people DEMAND. That is what is killing the South Suburbs. Most Homewood and Flossmoor residents (Black, White, Hispanic, etc.) have a "no bull****" stance towards anybody coming in and ruining their neighborhoods. And i believe because there was not as much flight from these areas as the surrounding ones, it has helped keep the town nice. But as for the high school, they really need to clean it up and expell any and all out-of-district students and should perhaps redraw their districts to include ONLY Homewood and Flossmoor. It will make the area more attractive for new residents to invest in long-term.
Not that I'm a fan of all these damn Indiana lisense plates on the road or anything..
Allen said recently he's only been to Indiana like three times or something. For someone from the south suburbs, this is a little incredible.. How is that even possible? heh.
At Prairie State College, not only are Lake County, Indiana residents not charged an out of state fee but they actually get a discount and pay LESS than other out of district residents. In other words, it's cheaper for someone in Munster, Indiana to attend community college in Chicago Heights than it is for someone in Frankfort or Tinley Park. This makes sense considering the state line is only three towns away. In my opinion, the south suburbs east of 1-57 have more in common with NWI than the burbs west of I-57.
But I digress. This is a thread about Homewood. And Allen speaks the truth.
Allen said recently he's only been to Indiana like three times or something. For someone from the south suburbs, this is a little incredible.. How is that even possible? heh.
At Prairie State College, not only are Lake County, Indiana residents not charged an out of state fee but they actually get a discount and pay LESS than other out of district residents. In other words, it's cheaper for someone in Munster, Indiana to attend community college in Chicago Heights than it is for someone in Frankfort or Tinley Park. This makes sense considering the state line is only three towns away. In my opinion, the south suburbs east of 1-57 have more in common with NWI than the burbs west of I-57.
But I digress. This is a thread about Homewood. And Allen speaks the truth.
I rarely cross over to NW Indiana too, except I been there more the 3x. Lake County is not peaches and cream since they have just as many issues with violent crime as we do. More so if we focus on homicides only. Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago accounts or 40% of the 500,000 people in the county.
I rarely cross over to NW Indiana too, except I been there more the 3x. Lake County is not peaches and cream since they have just as many issues with violent crime as we do. More so if we focus on homicides only. Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago accounts or 40% of the 500,000 people in the county.
While I do not really believe Lake County is peaches and cream or "the cream of the crop", I think there is a fact that you are missing. Even though Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago takes of most of Lake County by population, it does not take up the most in area. E.C., Gary, and Hammond, are pretty densely populated. And most of the crime is centered in those cities and does not really overflow to the other towns at all (despite the proximity). In the south suburbs, the crime is more-so spread around all of the suburbs than in NWI. Also, let's assume that Munster is to NWI as Flossmoor is to the south suburbs. They are both considered the "top towns" in each respective area. However, Munster does have alternatives (Schererville, Dyer, Saint John, Crown Point, Winfield) that could offer a similar amount of safety, close educational quality, and other amenities. In the south suburbs, the closest town that could match Flossmoor in all of those is either Homewood or Olympia Fields. And Olympia Fields is really hurt by the high school there too. What comparable towns/villages are there to Flossmoor [or even Homewood] in the South Suburbs? I honestly cannot really think of any.
While I do not really believe Lake County is peaches and cream or "the cream of the crop", I think there is a fact that you are missing. Even though Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago takes of most of Lake County by population, it does not take up the most in area. E.C., Gary, and Hammond, are pretty densely populated. And most of the crime is centered in those cities and does not really overflow to the other towns at all (despite the proximity). In the south suburbs, the crime is more-so spread around all of the suburbs than in NWI. Also, let's assume that Munster is to NWI as Flossmoor is to the south suburbs. They are both considered the "top towns" in each respective area. However, Munster does have alternatives (Schererville, Dyer, Saint John, Crown Point, Winfield) that could offer a similar amount of safety, close educational quality, and other amenities. In the south suburbs, the closest town that could match Flossmoor in all of those is either Homewood or Olympia Fields. And Olympia Fields is really hurt by the high school there too. What comparable towns/villages are there to Flossmoor [or even Homewood] in the South Suburbs? I honestly cannot really think of any.
Gary, east chicago, and parts of hammond are run down beyond belief and just those three towns alone have more than four times the number of violent crime and murders than all of the southern suburbs have COMBINED. Munster borders hammond and is less than 15 minutes drive from gary and east chicago. I don't think you can even compare munster to flossmoor in that respect. Those are some really LARGE, dangerous, and concentrated violent crime areas that munster is located near. I would think a better comparison to munster's proximity to violent crime would be middle class south holland not flossmoor, homewood, olympia fields, matteson, hazel crest, or any of those. The far southern suburbs have plenty of buffer zone from the heavy violent crime areas, which does include by the way, gary, east chicago, and hammond, along with the far southside of chicago. I would think that middle class munster has a low violent crime rate the same way that other middle class suburbs located within the vicinity of violent crime areas like south holland. By having an adequate police force for a middle class town that is located within the vicinity of violent crime areas.
Last edited by allen2323; 10-09-2010 at 06:45 PM..
Gary, east chicago, and parts of hammond are run down beyond belief and just these three towns have more than four times the number of violent crime and murders that all of the southern suburbs have COMBINED. Munster borders hammond and is less than 15 minutes drive from gary and east chicago. I don't think you can even compare munster to flossmoor in that respect. Those are some really LARGE dangerous concentrated crime areas that munster is located near. I would think a better comparison to munster's proximity to crime would be middle class south holland not flossmoor, homewood, olympia fields, matteson, hazel crest, or any of those. The far southern suburbs have plenty of buffer zone from the heavy violent crime areas, which does include by the way, gary, east chicago, and hammond, along with the far southside of chicago. I would think that middle class munster has a low crime rate the same way that middle class south holland does. By having an adequate police force for a middle class town that is within the vicinity of high crime areas.
You have said you've only been to Indiana a handful of times so you really don't have any personal experience to base your opinion on.
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Not that I'm a fan of all these damn Indiana lisense plates on the road or anything..
