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Location: Small town Texas, from Southern California
445 posts, read 1,809,632 times
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I hate to put that as a topic but considering moving and had some questions regarding NM. first of all i would like to know your honest opionion regarding the best place to live in NM. what are the schools like ? we have 3 younger children. where is the weather the best regarding warm no snow preferably? how about crime is there alot and employment in the construction industry? thanks i would really be happy to see your take
Sounds like that would be Las Cruces but there might be other
options like Alamogordo as well. I'm not sure about the schools here
in NM but I have two friends that teach at NMSU and they seem to
tell me that students who graduate from high schools here in NM
are often not well equipped for college but maybe that's the
ones that graduate from smaller towns. Las Cruces is fairly warm
in the winter and has little or no snow and when it does snow it
seems like a novelty to the people there. I don't live in LC but I
live close by and I am usually there one or two times per week.
Although I have no personal experience with a child in school in NM, I also have heard that the schools are generally not good. That is largely due to the fact that NM has a small tax base from which to support these schools. I live in Dona Ana County. I drive my child every day to a private school in El Paso as I was defeated on public schools in West Texas also. This is a beautiful place with great weather, good people, but the school issue is no small one. Maybe up north it is wildly different. One can hope.
I don't think it's as much the school systems as the children who attend them, and the backgrounds in which they come from. Forget about the schools for a minute. They, and the teachers that guide the students, are to a degree, neutral. The old axiom of leading a horse to water but not getting them to drink applies here. New Mexico, on a federal level, is the most funded state in the U.S. : we get $2.02 in services back from the feds for every dollar we remit to the feds. Additionally, many of the children in the schools get free or reduced price lunches: these thresholds are determined by household income. Suggested in another way, not many here are making adequate salaries. Which leads me to my main point: poverty within the household is a determining factor as to why many of these children are not prepared for higher education. The resources are here. The teachers are here. What's lacking in many cases is a home environment that encourages children to learn. That's absent from the culture here to a large extent. If you need proof, go to the Wal-Mart Supercenter here at 9, 10, 11 pm, on a weeknight and count how many school aged children are there with their parents, or in many cases, just a parent, or what appears to be a grandparent. Ask yourself: how equipped are these children going to be the following morning to follow basic instruction? I'd give them credit for keeping their head above the desk. This axiom can be applied to any area in which there is a low median family income. New Mexico is the 5th poorest state in the country in this regard. Parents are often working low wage jobs, and often, more than one is required to pay basic rent and food costs. Therefore, absenteeism rules the day when it comes to parents being a visible, and viable force in the household when it comes to being a supplement to children learning. I'll never forget the day when I attended a career workshop in Alamogordo. Speaking with one of the teachers in the Elementary School that I attended, she told me the greatest obstacle the teachers have to overcome is parental apathy. Most of these people are trying to scrape up enough money to pay their bills to be attentive to the children they sired. That's sad. The obvious question then is: why did these people have their children in the first place if they were financially unable to meet the responsibility that goes along with putting a roof over their heads. Sorry to say, the answer is basically a microcosm of the modern American culture. It felt good at the time, so they did it, and to hell with the consequences. Well, there needs to be a collaborative atmosphere fostered in these schools between parent and teacher. And on a larger societal scale, there has to be a better recognition of what constitutes sound family planning, so our school system may improve.
New Mexico's crisis with regard to schools is not the fault of the school districts, sure there are good and bad teachers, just like any place else. Rather, our situation here is one that portends a greater national crisis, if we, as a society don't practice greater restraint.
I don't think it's as much the school systems as the children who attend them, and the backgrounds in which they come from. Forget about the schools for a minute. They, and the teachers that guide the students, are to a degree, neutral. The old axiom of leading a horse to water but not getting them to drink applies here....
I'll never forget the day when I attended a career workshop in Alamogordo. Speaking with one of the teachers in the Elementary School that I attended, she told me the greatest obstacle the teachers have to overcome is parental apathy. Most of these people are trying to scrape up enough money to pay their bills to be attentive to the children they sired. That's sad. The obvious question then is: why did these people have their children in the first place if they were financially unable to meet the responsibility that goes along with putting a roof over their heads. Sorry to say, the answer is basically a microcosm of the modern American culture. It felt good at the time, so they did it, and to hell with the consequences. Well, there needs to be a collaborative atmosphere fostered in these schools between parent and teacher. And on a larger societal scale, there has to be a better recognition of what constitutes sound family planning, so our school system may improve.
New Mexico's crisis with regard to schools is not the fault of the school districts, sure there are good and bad teachers, just like any place else. Rather, our situation here is one that portends a greater national crisis, if we, as a society don't practice greater restraint.
As a former teacher (who left to go into the business world after 3 years), I very much agree with this! It all starts at HOME and with the parents.
All of this is why I have so much trouble with the recent POS that was passed, No Child Left Behind. Not only does it fail miserably to take into account all of the factors you mentioned, it also rewards the lowest common denominator and total mediocrity. Instruction has to be dumbed down further...etc. etc. etc. I just cringe whenever they brag about this piece of trash.
Having said that, if I had kids in school, New Mexico would not have been considered unless there were a number of private schools in the area.
Location: Small town Texas, from Southern California
445 posts, read 1,809,632 times
Reputation: 87
thanks for the news it sounds like there are some issues like in every place that need attention and thats the only way to say it. Kim K WHAT WERE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN WEST TEXAS REGARDING SCHOOLS AND WHY THE MOVE FOR YOU? THANKS ALL
I find many people consider private schools to be a panacea when there is little data to back that information up.
Many families that send their kids to private schools still raise rotten kids; for every degree of autonomy a private school would have from needlessly bureaucratic or politically correct public school policies, there often exists a degree of ineptitude brought about by parents' groups or the interests that control a private school.
This is often reflected in test scores; in Albuquerque, the best private schools have average scores toward the top, but not at the top.
I chose private school for two reasons. 1) my child was in the El Paso Independent School District and it is extremely over crowded. My child was in a temporary classroom every year due to over-crowding. 2) the behavior that was tolerated there because it is so crowded to include the sloppy non-existent dress code was appalling. Further, I will not tolerate fourth grade boys referring to my child as a f****g ***** on a regular basis. Thanks for the part about raising rotten kids...you are absolutely right. All thinking people realize there is no panacea. I just decided that 7 kids in a class room can't be all bad and I am willing to go to extraordinary lengths for her to enjoy learning and stay in school. Also, to date, no one has referred to her in such an atrocious manner. They may be rotten but they are politely rotten. Further, I moved out of Texas due to out of control property taxes.
The decline in the housing market hasn't hit Albuquerque, or Rio Rancho as hard as some areas of the country. Construction is moving ahead at a pretty substantial rate. Rio Rancho is the fastest growing city in the state, and bursting at the seams seemingly. By that I mean as soon as some new school or such opens, it is full.
Las Cruces and Alamogordo have milder climates in Winter, but are much hotter in Summer because they are both still in the northern realms of the "Chihuahuan Desert," coming up from Mexico. Albuquerque & Rio Rancho's winters are relatively mild, compared to Santa Fe & Taos areas above 7,000ft. elevation. Everywhere in NM, sunny skies are the norm rather than the reverse, so winter temperatures honestly do not feel as cold as the thermometer says it is here.
As for schools. My sister has stuck it out here in Albuquerque for almost 20 years, even though the pay in El Paso is much better. Why? Because of all the other positive aspects of life for children growing up in this city. Many outdoor experiences in Mother Nature, literally on your doorstep. Mountains, mesas, Native Americans, skiing, ballooning, soccer, etc., a wide variety of interesting places and people. It makes for a good place to teach your children respect for people unlike yourselves. "Tolerance" is also a good word to use I think.
RR has one of the lowest crime rates in New Mexico. The "far" Northeast Heights in Albuquerque has the same. There are good areas, and bad areas in any city...you just try to avoid the bad areas...usually featured on COPS!
Texas or New Mexico? (and I've lived in El Paso, San Angelo, and San Antonio, Texas)...New Mexico! It's amazing what you can get out and do when there is no humidity! ;-)
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