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Old 10-08-2013, 05:10 PM
 
Location: McLean, VA
448 posts, read 868,241 times
Reputation: 266

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert_J View Post
It's not the school, it's the effort you and your kids put into it.
Amen! I always ask people what difference does it make if a school averages 2100 on the SATs if your individual child scores 1700? Conversely, the school can average 1700 and your child could score 2100. Are points taken away?

I can see the issue in school safety, but I think test scores are overblown. (Note that I didn't say not important at all)
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Old 10-08-2013, 05:56 PM
 
1,380 posts, read 2,389,906 times
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It matters because the pace of the class is set, more or less, by the average student. Even with statewide standards, there is an enormous difference in the depth of the instruction between a "good" school and a "failing" school. Also you want to surround your kids with other, motivated students because, as much as we like to think of ourselves as individuals, we all follow the social cues and expectations of others. Teenagers, in particular, will follow their friends off a cliff, but are not so interested in what Mom and Dad think. They'll meet most of those friends in school. Mom and Dad need to pick a good school with a good culture. Outside of bullying, physical safety, at school, isn't that big of a problem. Most big deal problems happen off campus.
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Old 10-08-2013, 08:01 PM
 
Location: McLean, VA
448 posts, read 868,241 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eastmemphisguy View Post
It matters because the pace of the class is set, more or less, by the average student. Even with statewide standards, there is an enormous difference in the depth of the instruction between a "good" school and a "failing" school. Also you want to surround your kids with other, motivated students because, as much as we like to think of ourselves as individuals, we all follow the social cues and expectations of others. Teenagers, in particular, will follow their friends off a cliff, but are not so interested in what Mom and Dad think. They'll meet most of those friends in school. Mom and Dad need to pick a good school with a good culture. Outside of bullying, physical safety, at school, isn't that big of a problem. Most big deal problems happen off campus.
All points well taken and I agree. To clarify, the point that I am trying to make is that many parents over-blow this issue (not that the issue is not important). I'm actually not talking about "failing" schools at all.

In many parts of the country (not so much in Memphis admittedly) there are entire industries build around selling products, test preparation and tutoring to hyper-competitive parents who think that if their children do not go to a particular school, then they are doomed for life. That translates into much higher real estate prices (I am a developer and own properties around the nation, so I know) which can mean $200K difference in price from one zip code to the very next because the school in the preferred zip code has slightly higher SAT scores than the other one. Both neighborhoods have good schools and are in the same system, but the attitude toward the other school is that it is a "bad" school. The "good" school averages 2100 on SATs, while the "bad" one averages 1850. So that is what my reaction and comments were based on.

I was specifically agreeing with the Robert_J's point that it is more on the effort of the children and the parents. Generally speaking, the kids that do well in school come from solid families where education is stressed at home.

All of that being said, from everything I know, DeSoto County has a good school system - certainly not "failing" or "bad" - and if a child has a good family and community (many good communities there too) then he/she can thrive.
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Old 10-10-2013, 02:21 PM
 
29 posts, read 46,315 times
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So I'm a little late to this discussion I think, but thought I'd offer my 2 cents. Earlier this year we were moving from Dallas TX to the Memphis area for work. We'd never stepped foot in this area, save for a quick pass along I-40 as a teenager. We considered Collierville, Arlington, and Olive Branch more strongly than any other areas when moving here.

We settled on Olive Branch, and overall we've been happy so far. It's far from perfect, but what place is? The thing I assumed (and so far feel that I correctly assumed), is that you're close enough to any of the other suburbs to go enjoy whatever they offer (shopping, food, etc). I feel perfectly safe in pretty much all of the areas I've spent time. I know or am learning the places to avoid. So just like any other city, you're more than likely going to be fine unless you look for the trouble. I do think we would have loved Collierville especially, but we couldn't have afforded the same house we bought.

The biggest complaint we have so far is the lack of really good Mexican food in this area. but we did move from TX, where Mexican food is about as good as it gets, so I suppose we need to lower the bar a bit.
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Old 10-11-2013, 01:11 PM
 
43 posts, read 166,204 times
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Welcome to the Mid-South hope you enjoy and you should however I bet it is quite a change from Texas. I have lived in Collierville, Memphis and North Mississippi, it all about the same to me if you have kids and they go to public schools you cannot go wrong with Desoto Co. Schools
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Old 10-12-2013, 08:50 AM
 
Location: Collierville, TN
738 posts, read 2,570,368 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clemsontyger View Post
So I'm a little late to this discussion I think, but thought I'd offer my 2 cents. Earlier this year we were moving from Dallas TX to the Memphis area for work. We'd never stepped foot in this area, save for a quick pass along I-40 as a teenager. We considered Collierville, Arlington, and Olive Branch more strongly than any other areas when moving here.

We settled on Olive Branch, and overall we've been happy so far. It's far from perfect, but what place is? The thing I assumed (and so far feel that I correctly assumed), is that you're close enough to any of the other suburbs to go enjoy whatever they offer (shopping, food, etc). I feel perfectly safe in pretty much all of the areas I've spent time. I know or am learning the places to avoid. So just like any other city, you're more than likely going to be fine unless you look for the trouble. I do think we would have loved Collierville especially, but we couldn't have afforded the same house we bought.

The biggest complaint we have so far is the lack of really good Mexican food in this area. but we did move from TX, where Mexican food is about as good as it gets, so I suppose we need to lower the bar a bit.
Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana... on Germantown rd. A few miles drive from you, but worth it! Las Delicias too. Welcome and best of luck!
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Old 10-13-2013, 10:52 PM
 
19 posts, read 29,466 times
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Thanks for keeping the thread alive everyone. I really appreciate all of the advice that comes in. The more opinions I have, the better of a decision I can make.
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Old 10-19-2013, 05:18 PM
 
19 posts, read 29,466 times
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I took a drive to Hernando today and I really liked it. I felt really at ease there.....very small town feel, but still nice. Little rolling hills, lots of trees, and lakes/ponds....Desoto Central schools area is nice too, but it's very flat and hardly any trees....it's almost like the land was stripped of everything to build there. It was very interesting though to drive back to Cordova from there....the directions had me take Getwell road back to 240.....seems like you get much more north of the Desoto Central area, things start getting just a little bit worse the more you go.....and I could tell almost instantly when I crossed back into TN without looking at the map......it was like night and day.
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Old 10-19-2013, 07:33 PM
 
Location: McLean, VA
448 posts, read 868,241 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by acarsme View Post
It was very interesting though to drive back to Cordova from there....the directions had me take Getwell road back to 240.....seems like you get much more north of the Desoto Central area, things start getting just a little bit worse the more you go.....and I could tell almost instantly when I crossed back into TN without looking at the map......it was like night and day.
There is an industrial "belt" of sorts that separates Mississippi from Tennessee at that point. North of the "belt" (on the Memphis side) is a lot of blight - as you witnessed.
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Old 10-20-2013, 02:06 PM
 
1,380 posts, read 2,389,906 times
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The parts of Memphis that border DeSoto are pretty bad. No doubt about that. And the road connections are few and far between. Nowhere is perfect, but that's part of the DeSoto package.
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