The "Apartment Kid" Stigma (Dallas, Plano: upper-class, apartment complexes, rental)

[bencronin04]

I think living an a apartment in Downtown is not looked down upon at all. It's just downtown is probably not the ideal place to raise a kid in Dallas.

*Also, lots of people from Chicago in here....

[Mulching]

I think it has more to do with class issue than size of the dwelling. If you give $5000+ for a 900 sq ft "prestigious" building with a personal elevator to your flat, tennis court, gym, library, cafe,bowling alley and mini golf on grounds then not even the shallowest person would have an issue arranging play dates with your child. My bro lives in a building like that in Canada and parents of mansion kids consider it very cool.

[Big G]

There are two factors going on. The first one - economics - has already been hashed out on this thread.

The other one - mobility - hasn't been brought up yet.

This impact shows up in districts like Plano or Coppell, where they are running the curriculum "hot" - they just flat-out require the kids to learn more each year than a place like Frisco, and certainly DISD or some random TX town. That means anyone coming in mid-stream is probably going to be behind.

Independent of a kid's innate ability, his/her school performance is ALSO going to depend on his previous educational background. If you have a school where most of the kids have been there since K, everyone is "up to speed". If you have a school where 10% or more of the kids are coming or going each year, by 4th or 5th grade, you get into a situation where half the school has piled up an "educational deficit" and is dragging down the pace of the class.

[robmab]

I would say that not all apartments are created equal. Kids living in middle-class apartments are not viewed negatively -- at least not in our school. Although we own a home, my children look upon apartment-living as a cool/hip thing. Like staying in a hotel.

However, our school has its fair share of apartment kids who live in lower-income (not Section 8, but close) apartments. The concern is not that they are bad kids because of living in apartments. It's that, in general, these families are more transient and, as a result, kids do not have time to establish roots in the school and suffer academically. Test scores support this. Also, parents of these kids are not as involved in the school because they have no stake in the community. For some, it's just a temporary stop until they can no longer pay the rent or they find a friend or family member to move in with. Less parent involvement = lower rate of academic success. Again, supported by test scores.

[Transplant13]

I hear that both Plano and Coppell have "apartment kids" and still performing higher than most of "proud to be apartment free bubble" suburbs?

[RonnieinDallas]

There are few apartment free suburbs in DFW. North Arlington is just as nice as most of Plano if not nicer, but it has way more older apartments. Lamar High School started taking a nose dive about 10 years ago when the apartments started to age they were mostly 20-30 years old, now even the elementary schools like Ellis are getting bad. It just happens. Many places are similar south Irving has really nice areas and well cept older homes, but lots of ghetto apartments. When I was little my neighbors kids went to Nimitz and back then it was a decent school, now it's pretty bad. Look at any older suburb and that's what will happen in the newer ones, I don't see the pattern changing.

[Mulching]

I have seen older apartment buildings in Plano getting makeovers, thought of it as their way to be able to make more money but it turns out that its required by the city. That's what other towns should do if they want to maintain certain standards.

[rantanamo]

amazing to read some of this stuff.

[Tripolar]

I find it amazing that some people influence public towns into discriminatory zoning against less affluent. I can feel a law suit brewing against 'apartment free' towns.

[Lakewooder]

I don't think I ever heard the term "apartment kids" until the ones in Lake Highlands became an "issue". When I was growing some of the apartments were in better shape and nicer than some of the houses. Most people didn't have pools in Lakewood, they went to Tietze Park or the country club or to a friend's apartment!