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Well, the interesting thing about the dueling stats is this:
Pennsylvania has some outstanding school districts within its borders but also a good number of mediocre or worse districts. My suspicion is that a greater proportion of Massachusetts school districts perform to a uniformly high standard that may be below that of the top school districts in the country but significantly above both the national average and those of other states. Keep in mind that the table you provided lists local school districts in rank order while the stats mwj119 offered in rebuttal measure statewide achievement.
For every Tredyffrin-Easttown there's a Bensalem, for every Lower Merion, a William Penn. (I'm limiting my pairings to suburban districts to keep the city-suburb achievement gaps out of the mix.) And then there are the districts like Academy Park or Upper Darby that, while far from lousy, don't make the upper echelons either.
I suspect that once you filter out the urban districts in Massachusetts (Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Somerville, Cambridge, Chelsea, Medford, Malden, Everett, Lowell, Lynn, Brockton, New Bedford, Fall River), what you're left with are a bunch of districts that resemble Central Bucks (a top-performing district that doesn't rank in the highest echelons) more than they do Upper Darby - and are certainly far from William Penn or Bensalem.
However: on one of those lists, mwj119, you will note that Pennsylvania ranks in the top ten states. So those low-performing districts must be balanced out by those top-flight ones.
But what all this means in Pennsylvania, though, is that your choice of residence will affect the quality of education you get more than it will in Massachusetts.
This just isn’t true. Southern Middle sex county and much of Norfolk County have the good schools. Western Ma and Southeastern Ma are more upper Darby risqué with a good number of Bensalem sequel towns. Metro west and the far north shore get the good schools. Outside of metro west as you go away from Boston the schism get worse and worse. It’s the areas immediately west/northwest of Boston that perform at insanely high standards.
This just isn’t true. Southern Middle sex county and much of Norfolk County have the good schools. Western Ma and Southeastern Ma are more upper Darby risqué with a good number of Bensalem sequel towns. Metro west and the far north shore get the good schools. Outside of metro west as you go away from Boston the schism get worse and worse. It’s the areas immediately west/northwest of Boston that perform at insanely high standards.
Massachusetts on average is world class, Comparable with Korea or Singapore
I found this thread on the AskAnAmerican subreddit pretty interesting. I feel like I agree more with the folks outside of CityData about Boston than I do on CityData (probably because they're not stat obsessed like the pro-Boston crowd on here). Hell, even on Skyscraperpage, Boston is very underrepresented compared to it's peers (NYC, Philly, Chicago, SF). Its weird.
On here it tends to be more about data (hence the CityDATA name) and not about actual anecdotal or personal experience, which I value much more.
Highlights here include a good amount saying they don't think of New England where they're from (PNW, SW, South) and if they do it's just lumped in stereotypically with the rest of the East (rude, fastpaced, etc.) and couldn't name most of the six states.
Another thing I agree with is the person who said the fact that New England people think you can only find certain things in New England, when they exist everywhere else. I agree with that 110%.
Racism is also a common theme I've noticed as well. Seems like Reddit and Skyscraperpage are more balanced and on point when it comes to accurately describing New England/Boston than on here. At least to me.
I found this thread on the AskAnAmerican subreddit pretty interesting. I feel like I agree more with the folks outside of CityData about Boston than I do on CityData (probably because they're not stat obsessed like the pro-Boston crowd on here). Hell, even on Skyscraperpage, Boston is very underrepresented compared to it's peers (NYC, Philly, Chicago, SF). Its weird.
On here it tends to be more about data (hence the CityDATA name) and not about actual anecdotal or personal experience, which I value much more.
Highlights here include a good amount saying they don't think of New England where they're from (PNW, SW, South) and if they do it's just lumped in stereotypically with the rest of the East (rude, fastpaced, etc.) and couldn't name most of the six states.
Another thing I agree with is the person who said the fact that New England people think you can only find certain things in New England, when they exist everywhere else. I agree with that 110%.
Racism is also a common theme I've noticed as well. Seems like Reddit and Skyscraperpage are more balanced and on point when it comes to accurately describing New England/Boston than on here. At least to me.
Hahahaha you did it. Just like we predicted you would in another thread. Different alias, same bullish!t. It always starts with legitimate dialogue, then slowly degrades, degrades, all the way until you bring up Boston and race as you get all panicky. You’re a bug out, dude. It must drive you insane when you see Boston do so favorable in these polls, and on these threads. Better yet, it must drive you insane when you see how well Boston has done in general. World rankings. Global indexes. GDP powerhouse.
You’ve had 20+ names on CD since I began seeing your repetitive posts. One day I will figure out why you spend your time trying to blast Boston. Until then, I’ll be in this beautiful city enjoying the hell out of it.
Hahahaha you did it. Just like we predicted you would in another thread. Different alias, same bullish!t. It always starts with legitimate dialogue, then slowly degrades, degrades, all the way until you bring up Boston and race as you get all panicky. You’re a bug out, dude. It must drive you insane when you see Boston do so favorable in these polls, and on these threads. Better yet, it must drive you insane when you see how well Boston has done in general. World rankings. Global indexes. GDP powerhouse.
You’ve had 20+ names on CD since I began seeing your repetitive posts. One day I will figure out why you spend your time trying to blast Boston. Until then, I’ll be in this beautiful city enjoying the hell out of it.
I still miss Boston on occasion, but to borrow from what W.C. Fields wanted on his tombstone, on the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.
And race does have a little to do with it. The differences may not be as stark as some make them out to be - for instance, both cities had one neighborhood that I refused to set foot in because of their reps for bigotry (South Boston in Boston, Fishtown here), and both neighborhoods have had that aspect of their character scrubbed away by gentrification - but I'd say on the whole that Philly's African-American social, political and cultural infrastructure are bigger and stronger than their Boston counterparts.
And I'd say that even though Massachusetts has elected an African-American governor and Pennsylvania has yet to even have an African-American seek the office.
I still miss Boston on occasion, but to borrow from what W.C. Fields wanted on his tombstone, on the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.
And race does have a little to do with it. The differences may not be as stark as some make them out to be - for instance, both cities had one neighborhood that I refused to set foot in because of their reps for bigotry (South Boston in Boston, Fishtown here), and both neighborhoods have had that aspect of their character scrubbed away by gentrification - but I'd say on the whole that Philly's African-American social, political and cultural infrastructure are bigger and stronger than their Boston counterparts.
And I'd say that even though Massachusetts has elected an African-American governor and Pennsylvania has yet to even have an African-American seek the office.
I don’t disagree with you here. We often talk about - though rooted in segregation - how we miss the feel of Chicago. The city is very much influenced by African American culture, whether those who live north of Madison want to admit it or not. The inconvenient truth for Boston is that they don’t know what they don’t know. The European and Asian influence is enough to keep folks happy when they talk about inclusivity. And, they wear “first to pass gay marriage” as a badge of honor. None of it changes the fact that we have very little African American/Hispanic culture here.
But, as I’ve gone through with this poster above, to call Boston outright racist is just innacurate. It’s a hearsay cheap shot to try and look for reasons why Boston isn’t a great town. So I oblige and counter- After all, this is CD.
but I'd say on the whole that Philly's African-American social, political and cultural infrastructure are bigger and stronger than their Boston counterparts.
Isn’t it a little unfair to compare Boston’s African American cultural infrastructure to Philly’s (or Chicago’s for that matter)? Like it or not, Boston just wasn’t as big a destination for African Americans during the great migration. Probably because (and any history buffs are welcome to correct me) Boston wasn’t doing as well economically during the early 1900s compared to the other large northeastern cities and midwestern cities.
With that having been said, nowadays there are definitely immigrant groups that are better represented in Boston than in Philadelphia: West Indians for example.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwj119
None of it changes the fact that we have very little African American/Hispanic culture here.
I’m pretty sure there’s at least as much Latino culture in the Boston area as in Philadelphia, albeit not as much as in Chicago.
I think one of the most glaring points that gets lost in this constant comparison of public schools is that academic performance is certainly not a direct reflection of the quality of a school's resources or instruction. Of equal importance is a student's drive and parental influence.
In most cases, the "highest achieving" schools are filled with very academic-minded students that would thrive no matter where they are placed (due in large part to the influence/pressures placed on them by their parents). In fact, it's been found that the factor most highly correlated with high-performing students is the parents' level of educational attainment.
So, this isn't to say that Mass. public schools aren't great. Of course, they are very well-funded and highly-resourced institutions. But other states, particularly when accounting for inflationary differences, also fund/resource their public schools at comparable levels to Mass. and place great important on the teaching profession. It's just that Mass. has a bit more of the type of students that thrive in an academic setting (not terribly shocking for a state whose workforce is disproportionately in the higher education field).
Isn’t it a little unfair to compare Boston’s African American cultural infrastructure to Philly’s (or Chicago’s for that matter)? Like it or not, Boston just wasn’t as big a destination for African Americans during the great migration. Probably because (and any history buffs are welcome to correct me) Boston wasn’t doing as well economically during the early 1900s compared to the other large northeastern cities and midwestern cities.
With that having been said, nowadays there are definitely immigrant groups that are better represented in Boston than in Philadelphia: West Indians for example.
I’m pretty sure there’s at least as much Latino culture in the Boston area as in Philadelphia, albeit not as much as in Chicago.
Boston has a greater Latino culture than Philadelphia by far. Coty is 20%+ Latino with several everlasting cities with over 25%+ Latin population and a few over 40%+ in The metro. Suffolk county is 25% Latino and Essex is 20%
Boston has a greater Latino culture than Philadelphia by far. Coty is 20%+ Latino with several everlasting cities with over 25%+ Latin population and a few over 40%+ in The metro. Suffolk county is 25% Latino and Essex is 20%
Both metro areas are in the same Hispanic "tier," with a slight edge to Boston.
According to Pew (2014), percentage of each metro population identifying as Hispanic:
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