Can we afford to live in the city and raise a family? (Chicago: low income, real estate)

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by C. Maurio

you do not have to pay Chicago's biggest tax- private school tuition for your kids. That is why we moved out here.

Some of the best elementary and middle schools in the state are located in the city of Chicago. According to US News high school rankings the top 4 high schools in the state are all in the city of Chicago. There may be many many bad schools in the city but that does not mean that you can not end up with a good one.

Personally I think the whole CPS thing is a bit overblown. For parents who care there are a lot of decent options.

[rparz]

CPS holds its own until High School, then it's garbage.

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by rparz

CPS holds its own until High School, then it's garbage.

And if you can get into one of the high level magnet high schools its as good as anywhere and most likely better than anywhere.

[Alacran]

CPS ain't that bad.

And no you can't find all that for what you have.

[rparz]

Originally Posted by hindukid

And if you can get into one of the high level magnet high schools its as good as anywhere and most likely better than anywhere.

What about the other 99.9999% of High school aged kids in the city?

There's always private school!

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by hindukid

And if you can get into one of the high level magnet high schools its as good as anywhere and most likely better than anywhere.

As a former CPS teacher that has experience in a well regarded magnate school I would vehemently disagree that the level of instruction at most such CPS facilities,mevrnnthose that acheive high test scores, is ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM superior to the better suburban schools. The undisputable FACTS show that CPS has fewer hours of instruction, larger class sizes, less well prepared teachers and students and a dearth of the things like athletics, art and music that many suburban parents find not to be "optional" but an integral part of their child's education.

To be sure the high levels of performance that some CPS magnate schools achieve on required state tests is one measure of their effectiveness but too often that shows merely the low bar set by these tests and the FACT that the results can be had with outmoded / non-Progrssive "drill & kill" teaching methods that do little to raise the overall appreciate of schooling...

There are many well rated CPS magnate schools that I would strongly discourage any thoughtful parent from considering if they have viable alternative.

[Ace Rothstein]

Originally Posted by hindukid

And if you can get into one of the high level magnet high schools its as good as anywhere and most likely better than anywhere.

That's a big if.

[knitgirl]

Chet, it's magnet, not magnate. Magnate: "somebody rich and powerful: somebody who has a lot of wealth and power, especially somebody in business or industry." from the Bing dictionary.Maybe you need to be rich and powerful to get into magnet schools, but I would think those kids are at Latin or Lab school, not CPS.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by chet everett

As a former CPS teacher that has experience in a well regarded magnate school I would vehemently disagree that the level of instruction at most such CPS facilities,mevrnnthose that acheive high test scores, is ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM superior to the better suburban schools. The undisputable FACTS show that CPS has fewer hours of instruction, larger class sizes, less well prepared teachers and students and a dearth of the things like athletics, art and music that many suburban parents find not to be "optional" but an integral part of their child's education.

To be sure the high levels of performance that some CPS magnate schools achieve on required state tests is one measure of their effectiveness but too often that shows merely the low bar set by these tests and the FACT that the results can be had with outmoded / non-Progrssive "drill & kill" teaching methods that do little to raise the overall appreciate of schooling...

There are many well rated CPS magnate schools that I would strongly discourage any thoughtful parent from considering if they have viable alternative.

Classic, and funny that Chet said hindukid is out of touch. I think there's an old saying for something like this.

The only thing missing from Chet's non informative post is the term byzantine.

[chet everett]

The voice-to-text feature of my portable device for some reason substituted magnate for magnet.

I have inserted the corrected version below.

Originally Posted by hindukid

And if you can get into one of the high level magnet high schools its as good as anywhere and most likely better than anywhere.

As a former CPS teacher that has experience in a well regarded magnet school I would vehemently disagree that the level of instruction at most such CPS facilities, evrn those that acheive high test scores, is ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM superior to the better suburban schools.The undisputable FACTS show that CPS has fewer hours of instruction, larger class sizes, less well prepared teachers and students and a dearth of the things like athletics, art and music that many suburban parents find not to be "optional" but an integral part of their child's education.

To be sure the high levels of performance that some CPS magnet schools achieve on required state tests is one measure of their the ability to get a very narrowly group of students to meet the mark but too often that shows merely the low bar set by these tests and the FACT that the results can be had with outmoded / non-progrssive "drill & kill" teaching methods that do little to raise the overall appreciation of schooling...

There are many well rated CPS magnet schools that I would strongly discourage any thoughtful parent from considering if they have any viable alternative.