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I am a new resident to Matteson, IL. Except for when I went away for college, I lived in Northwest Indiana (East Chicago/Gary) for all of my life, when I got a job in IL and I wanted information about various neighborhoods in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, this forum was one of the ones that I went to for some information.
What became very obvious very early on in reading threads is that any, and I do mean any city, town, or village that had a "significant" non white population was basically considered a sub par area.
I basically stopped reading the forum section of this website for that reason alone.
These kinds of discussions are full of disingenuous notions. The whole quality of "schools" debate I find so shallow as to be irrelevant.
I have a son and schools were a factor in looking for a place to live. Matteson doesn't have "top rated" schools, but when I looked at the numbers on the standardized illinois tests of the school my son would be attending 75%-80% of those children are meeting or exceeding the criteria of those standardized tests. Then I looked at the percentage of students who were like my son and how they were doing. Again 75%-80% of black boys are passing those tests. They have a 95%+ graduation rate.
The high school that he might attend was a lot more disappointing in the test scoring department, but it still has a 92% graduation rate with the vast majority of students going on to college and the black students at the school doing more than twice as well on those standardized tests as black students in the rest of the state. Do I want the quality of the schools to improve? Yes. Do, I think that quality only or mostly lies in ACT and other standardized test scores? Not so much.
I just listed a few other criteria not an all encompassing list, but it is deeper than the ACT score tells all approach of many. Now are their better schools and school systems, of course. Can I afford to live in those areas, be fairly close to work, afford the kind of house we wanted, and not live in an area where a large percentage of the people living there had racial biases against people that look like me? Probably not, and would my son do well in that individual better school? Who knows? Maybe.
But would I describe the school that my son currently attends as sub par and BAD, no I would not. Would I describe it as great? No I would not.
This is where the disingenuous part of the discussion comes in, most students don't attend great schools by using that criteria only a very tiny percentage of areas would be adequate to live.
These "posters" are looking at very very narrow criteria to say a school system is subpar. Usually the ACT score and that is basically it.
They aren't looking at much else at all, and they don't want to look at much, they have their pre-conceived notion's about so called "black" schools and they are sticking to them. They literally have nothing of value to add other than, I am such and such poster and I am a bigot and so this area that has black people or other non white people is to be avoided at all costs.
For ANYONE dead-set on looking to move to a south suburb of Chicago (east of I-57) and nowhere else...
My top choices for middle-income to upper-income buyers (in order from most favorite to least):
Flossmoor
Homewood
Olympia Fields
Lynwood
South Holland
Matteson
My list would also include crete, monee, and glenwood. I agree with you, Lynwood is definatly middle class and should be listed. Although, I would not list lynwood that high at all. TF South is a horrible school. I would compare it to an inner city of chicago public school. TF South only has a 73 percent student graduation rate which is well below the state average. And, there is really no way to sugar coat that statistic. It's a shame because I really do like the area, but what is really going on over there? Are they producing future college students or future high school drop out thugs. The state really needs to step in quick over there.
A more accurate and comprehensive list of the southern suburbs.
1st tier, upper middle class and affluent in no particular order:
Olympia Fields
Flossmoor
Crete
2nd Tier, solidly middle class in no particular order:
Monee
Homewood
Matteson
South Holland
3rd tier, middle class in no particular order:
glenwood
hazel crest
country club hills
lynwood
richton park
4th tier, lower middle class in no particular order:
park forest
Dolton
lansing
Calumet city
calumet park
No tier, separated by working class and lower income areas:
Mostly working class:
chicago heights
burnham
Riverdale
Markham
Harvey
Mostly lower income:
Ford Heights
Phoenix
Robbins
Last edited by allen2323; 10-31-2010 at 08:55 PM..
I am a new resident to Matteson, IL. Except for when I went away for college, I lived in Northwest Indiana (East Chicago/Gary) for all of my life, when I got a job in IL and I wanted information about various neighborhoods in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, this forum was one of the ones that I went to for some information.
What became very obvious very early on in reading threads is that any, and I do mean any city, town, or village that had a "significant" non white population was basically considered a sub par area.
I basically stopped reading the forum section of this website for that reason alone.
These kinds of discussions are full of disingenuous notions. The whole quality of "schools" debate I find so shallow as to be irrelevant.
I have a son and schools were a factor in looking for a place to live. Matteson doesn't have "top rated" schools, but when I looked at the numbers on the standardized illinois tests of the school my son would be attending 75%-80% of those children are meeting or exceeding the criteria of those standardized tests. Then I looked at the percentage of students who were like my son and how they were doing. Again 75%-80% of black boys are passing those tests. They have a 95%+ graduation rate.
The high school that he might attend was a lot more disappointing in the test scoring department, but it still has a 92% graduation rate with the vast majority of students going on to college and the black students at the school doing more than twice as well on those standardized tests as black students in the rest of the state. Do I want the quality of the schools to improve? Yes. Do, I think that quality only or mostly lies in ACT and other standardized test scores? Not so much.
I just listed a few other criteria not an all encompassing list, but it is deeper than the ACT score tells all approach of many. Now are their better schools and school systems, of course. Can I afford to live in those areas, be fairly close to work, afford the kind of house we wanted, and not live in an area where a large percentage of the people living there had racial biases against people that look like me? Probably not, and would my son do well in that individual better school? Who knows? Maybe.
But would I describe the school that my son currently attends as sub par and BAD, no I would not. Would I describe it as great? No I would not.
This is where the disingenuous part of the discussion comes in, most students don't attend great schools by using that criteria only a very tiny percentage of areas would be adequate to live.
These "posters" are looking at very very narrow criteria to say a school system is subpar. Usually the ACT score and that is basically it.
They aren't looking at much else at all, and they don't want to look at much, they have their pre-conceived notion's about so called "black" schools and they are sticking to them. They literally have nothing of value to add other than, I am such and such poster and I am a bigot and so this area that has black people or other non white people is to be avoided at all costs.
They really are sick if you ask me.
Just for curiosity sake, am I to be included in these "posters" who you consider to be bigots and "sick"?
I am a new resident to Matteson, IL. Except for when I went away for college, I lived in Northwest Indiana (East Chicago/Gary) for all of my life, when I got a job in IL and I wanted information about various neighborhoods in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, this forum was one of the ones that I went to for some information.
What became very obvious very early on in reading threads is that any, and I do mean any city, town, or village that had a "significant" non white population was basically considered a sub par area.
I basically stopped reading the forum section of this website for that reason alone.
These kinds of discussions are full of disingenuous notions. The whole quality of "schools" debate I find so shallow as to be irrelevant.
I have a son and schools were a factor in looking for a place to live. Matteson doesn't have "top rated" schools, but when I looked at the numbers on the standardized illinois tests of the school my son would be attending 75%-80% of those children are meeting or exceeding the criteria of those standardized tests. Then I looked at the percentage of students who were like my son and how they were doing. Again 75%-80% of black boys are passing those tests. They have a 95%+ graduation rate.
The high school that he might attend was a lot more disappointing in the test scoring department, but it still has a 92% graduation rate with the vast majority of students going on to college and the black students at the school doing more than twice as well on those standardized tests as black students in the rest of the state. Do I want the quality of the schools to improve? Yes. Do, I think that quality only or mostly lies in ACT and other standardized test scores? Not so much.
I just listed a few other criteria not an all encompassing list, but it is deeper than the ACT score tells all approach of many. Now are their better schools and school systems, of course. Can I afford to live in those areas, be fairly close to work, afford the kind of house we wanted, and not live in an area where a large percentage of the people living there had racial biases against people that look like me? Probably not, and would my son do well in that individual better school? Who knows? Maybe.
But would I describe the school that my son currently attends as sub par and BAD, no I would not. Would I describe it as great? No I would not.
This is where the disingenuous part of the discussion comes in, most students don't attend great schools by using that criteria only a very tiny percentage of areas would be adequate to live.
These "posters" are looking at very very narrow criteria to say a school system is subpar. Usually the ACT score and that is basically it.
They aren't looking at much else at all, and they don't want to look at much, they have their pre-conceived notion's about so called "black" schools and they are sticking to them. They literally have nothing of value to add other than, I am such and such poster and I am a bigot and so this area that has black people or other non white people is to be avoided at all costs.
They really are sick if you ask me.
I couldn't agree more with you. You speak for many.
This is where the disingenuous part of the discussion comes in, most students don't attend great schools by using that criteria only a very tiny percentage of areas would be adequate to live.
I would not even call this a discussion. I also have a daughter that will be attending arcadia elemetary next year in olympia fields. You are 100 percent correct. As far as a high school goes, the graduation rate is by far the most important number in my book. In my opinion that number and that number alone is what makes chicago public schools as a whole so inadequate. And yes, how african american students are doing in particular is very important, considering that the schools in matteson, olympia fields, etc are over 90 percent african american. No one is saying that all of the schools are perfect. We have actually seen improvement in the last few years and I personally would like to see more improvement. And yes, the overwhelming majority of students in the chicagoland area do not attend the "greatest" public schools. The fact of the matter is most public schools located within conveniant chicagoland locations aren't great. The public schools that are "great" are either located in extremely expensive areas with super high housing cost. Or are in far out locations that most people would not consider moving to just for a "great" public school which is what keeps those areas affordable.
Last edited by allen2323; 10-31-2010 at 08:31 PM..
No matter what race, creed, nationality or sexual preference the residents of the sub par area is comprised of doesn't matter ... it is what it is and I call it like I see it.
I would not even call this a discussion. I also have a daughter that will be attending arcadia elemetary next year in olympia fields. You are 100 percent correct. As far as a high school goes, the graduation rate is by far the most important number in my book. In my opinion that number and that number alone is what makes chicago public schools as a whole so inadequate. And yes, how african american students are doing in particular is very important, considering that the schools in matteson, olympia fields, etc. are over 90 percent african american. No one is saying that all of the schools are perfect. We have actually seen improvement in the last few years and I personally would like to see more improvement.
Yeah, reading this website you'd think that the majority of the students in that school system didn't graduate and that the majority didn't go on to attend college. I am under no illusions about the quality of the schools, I'd say the elementary schools are good, the middle schools are above average, and the high schools are average overall but in some areas are slightly below average. Which is why our son might attend Marian or the new charter school when the time comes. But reading these posters make these gross generalizations about "ghetto" black people and how black people don't value education, or etc and so on, I think to myself, "I didn't come to this website to read that nonsense". The poster asked a simple question about the area and instead gets as you wrote a racial rant.
No matter what race, creed, nationality or sexual preference the residents of the sub par area is comprised of doesn't matter ... it is what it is and I call it like I see it.
Maybe, but moving further out of the chicagoland area is not the best answer in my opinion. And not a realistic option for most families. Neither is moving to winnetka so there kid can attend new trier. And if you want a new trier quality education for your child, a better option would be paying for a private school. That is a much more affordable and realistic option for most families. Chicagoland area public schools are sub par as a whole. Very few meet the highest standards. But, I would say many public schools in the south suburbs do a much better job educating and graduating students than most chicagoland public schools as a whole. Particularly, african american students are graduating at much higher rates and african american students are scoring higher on the standardized test in many south suburban public schools. How african american students are doing in particular is important if the school is made up largely of african american students or if you are a parent of an african american child.
Last edited by allen2323; 10-31-2010 at 09:37 PM..
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