RACE: comparing suburb population & suburb public schools (Chicago, Cicero: low income, home)

[edsg25]

I have during my lifetime taught in two communities far removed from each other. The first was Hazel Crest in the south suburbs. Afterwards it was Glenview in the north.

I've had a long career so I've seen so many changes along the way. One change I noticed years ago, but it has become (from what I can see) vastly different today.

By 2040, the US is (mercifully going to be "majority minority"....whites will fall from majority to plurality status). "No one is a majority" is a good thing and IMHO, it is just what the US needs.

Years ago (and I'm thinking of the years after WWII, the baby boomers' youth, the mass exodus to suburbia. During this era, somethings were most evident that are no longer true today:

1. suburbs were heavily white (about as heavy as you can go) so in many cases, you would find both a suburb and its public schools tittering around 100% white

2. Living in the suburbs meant having kids. Who knows, maybe it was a legal requirement () suburbia was all about having kids (2.5 preferably), mom at home and dad at work.

3. Given the heavy usage of the public schools, given the era (when sense of community was far greater than today), the public school systems were huge points of pride for the suburb, well supported, and one of the top reasons people moved to a community.

Today's world (I don't have to tell you) is vastly different. An overwhelmingly white nation in the 1950s (if you think of the highly polarized white vs. black issues of the time during the civil rights era, you can get a true sense that it appeared to be about two sides. Of course, the US was in the process of ending what had been by far the smallest percentages of immigrants from right before WWI to into the 70s.

Immigration started up and rolled on with a vengeance. The old polarization of white/black became a true mix, one that could, I suppose, be looked at in terms of four: white/black/hispanic/Asian.

SO HERE IS MY MAIN POINT

As I observed while teaching and in other ways as well, there has developed a gap between a suburb's total population and that suburb's children in public school population.

In essence in my experience: suburbs were (by %) much greater white than the per cent in the public schools

Obviously this reflects the growth of non-whites in the suburbs whose kids are going to school while the white population is usually older and the kids often already out of public schools.

I've seen this dynamic in many places. I lived for much of my life in Evanston and in Evanston, the city's percentage of whites far exceeded the public school percentages for whites, both at the elementary level and at ETHS.

It's been a long time since I've been in south suburbia, a place where the New Trier of the region or the Hinsdale of the region would have been Homewood-Flossmoor. Unchallenged. H-F, I am aware, went through a rather remarkably fast change from white to black (far greater than I would have expected). But I would think (maybe I'd be wrong) that H-F is far less black than either village, Homewood or Flossmoor.

So what I am seeking here is what Chicagoland suburbs have a truly big percentage differential between the percents of whites in city limits and the percents of whites in the public schools?

[deeman7]

Ok

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by deeman7

Ok

Oak Lawn? Oak Park? Oak Brook? Oh Kankakee?

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I have during my lifetime taught in two communities far removed from each other. The first was Hazel Crest in the south suburbs. Afterwards it was Glenview in the north.

I've had a long career so I've seen so many changes along the way. One change I noticed years ago, but it has become (from what I can see) vastly different today.

By 2040, the US is (mercifully going to be "majority minority"....whites will fall from majority to plurality status). "No one is a majority" is a good thing and IMHO, it is just what the US needs.

Years ago (and I'm thinking of the years after WWII, the baby boomers' youth, the mass exodus to suburbia. During this era, somethings were most evident that are no longer true today:

1. suburbs were heavily white (about as heavy as you can go) so in many cases, you would find both a suburb and its public schools tittering around 100% white

2. Living in the suburbs meant having kids. Who knows, maybe it was a legal requirement () suburbia was all about having kids (2.5 preferably), mom at home and dad at work.

3. Given the heavy usage of the public schools, given the era (when sense of community was far greater than today), the public school systems were huge points of pride for the suburb, well supported, and one of the top reasons people moved to a community.

Today's world (I don't have to tell you) is vastly different. An overwhelmingly white nation in the 1950s (if you think of the highly polarized white vs. black issues of the time during the civil rights era, you can get a true sense that it appeared to be about two sides. Of course, the US was in the process of ending what had been by far the smallest percentages of immigrants from right before WWI to into the 70s.

Immigration started up and rolled on with a vengeance. The old polarization of white/black became a true mix, one that could, I suppose, be looked at in terms of four: white/black/hispanic/Asian.

SO HERE IS MY MAIN POINT

As I observed while teaching and in other ways as well, there has developed a gap between a suburb's total population and that suburb's children in public school population.

In essence in my experience: suburbs were (by %) much greater white than the per cent in the public schools

Obviously this reflects the growth of non-whites in the suburbs whose kids are going to school while the white population is usually older and the kids often already out of public schools.

I've seen this dynamic in many places. I lived for much of my life in Evanston and in Evanston, the city's percentage of whites far exceeded the public school percentages for whites, both at the elementary level and at ETHS.

It's been a long time since I've been in south suburbia, a place where the New Trier of the region or the Hinsdale of the region would have been Homewood-Flossmoor. Unchallenged. H-F, I am aware, went through a rather remarkably fast change from white to black (far greater than I would have expected). But I would think (maybe I'd be wrong) that H-F is far less black than either village, Homewood or Flossmoor.

So what I am seeking here is what Chicagoland suburbs have a truly big percentage differential between the percents of whites in city limits and the percents of whites in the public schools?

Berwyn's a good example. The public schools are only about 5% white non-Hispanic in north Berwyn and 10% in south Berwyn. The city is about 30% white non-Hispanic now.

I lived in that community for some time so I know that this does not have much to do with age. Rather, it has a lot to do with the fact that the white non-Hispanic population either moves when their kids reach school age or sends their kids to private schools so as to avoid the low income and predominantly Hispanic student body in the public schools. Disappointing given how "progressive" the Chicagoland area has become (in the current mainstream definition of that term) but it's a very uncomfortable fact.

So in other words, I think your analysis should expand beyond the raw % in the community v. % in the schools, as you will not grasp the whole scope of the issue with that narrow focus.

[Kmanshouse]

Not a surprise at all. If you simply look at the population of Catholic schools you will see they are far whiter than public schools. At least in the western suburbs.

Asian (especially east Asian, not south Asian) population figures probably follow the white population this way.

I will never forgot watching my daughter's middle school orchestra performance and realizing 60-70% of the kids were "brown". Maybe that's a music thing, not sure. But we really noticed the differences.

[JacksonPanther]

Did you just realize that white people don't want to associate with non whites? And white people certainly don't want to be less than the majority anywhere.

You should be directing your questions to them specifically.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Kmanshouse

Not a surprise at all. If you simply look at the population of Catholic schools you will see they are far whiter than public schools. At least in the western suburbs.

Asian (especially east Asian, not south Asian) population figures probably follow the white population this way.

I will never forgot watching my daughter's middle school orchestra performance and realizing 60-70% of the kids were "brown". Maybe that's a music thing, not sure. But we really noticed the differences.

While Catholic schools may be a factor, they have become more and more a dying breed. Besides, who do you think are in Catholic schools? Who are by far the largest group of Catholics and more overwhelmingly the most Catholic group of American children: Hispanics

Add to that a major demographic in Catholic schools: African American kids, usually not Catholic, whose parents think they will get a better education in Catholic schools than in public ones

[damba]

Originally Posted by edsg25

While Catholic schools may be a factor, they have become more and more a dying breed. Besides, who do you think are in Catholic schools? Who are by far the largest group of Catholics and more overwhelmingly the most Catholic group of American children: Hispanics

Add to that a major demographic in Catholic schools: African American kids, usually not Catholic, whose parents think they will get a better education in Catholic schools than in public ones

Yes, Hispanics are predominantly Catholic. But where are these catholic schools across greater chicagoland with mostly hispanic students located(?)

[BRU67]

St. Leonard in Berwyn has a pretty substantial Hispanic population, as does Saint Frances of Rome and Our Lady of Charity in Cicero.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by damba

Yes, Hispanics are predominantly Catholic. But where are these catholic schools across greater chicagoland with mostly hispanic students located(?)

Actually mostly Chicago. But you would be right...that is not suburbia