Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Maryland > Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland
 [Register]
Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland Calvert County, Charles County, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-28-2013, 10:24 PM
 
Location: DMV
10,125 posts, read 13,915,844 times
Reputation: 3222

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast GTO View Post
For the life of me I can't see how middle class families afford 6-8 years of private school education before college. Unless people are claiming that 150-200K is middle class.

Are there a lot of grants/scholarships available?
That's a great point. I don't know too many middle class families that have $3400/month of extra money. That is $40k/year. Who has $40k to spend in this economy?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-29-2013, 04:42 AM
 
Location: Baltimore
1,716 posts, read 2,717,022 times
Reputation: 2657
On a side note, if parent involvment and interest are not present or education is not made a priority, it does not matter how much disposable income one has, or how much per pupil a jurisdiction spends, the results will almost always be the same. The better school districts have a higher level of parental involvment. In the better performing school districts of Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Baltimore Counties you will also notice the absence of community/rec/after-school centers to "babysit" kids.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2013, 05:39 AM
 
Location: Maryland
18,630 posts, read 19,332,730 times
Reputation: 6460
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast GTO View Post
For the life of me I can't see how middle class families afford 6-8 years of private school education before college. Unless people are claiming that 150-200K is middle class.

Are there a lot of grants/scholarships available?
If you're Catholic, Catholic School tuition (elementary) in PG can run about 5-6k a year for a child or about a new car payment. They kill you with the feed though. It's definitely not an expense people love to pay since they pay property tax but it is all about priorities.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2013, 05:43 AM
 
Location: Maryland
18,630 posts, read 19,332,730 times
Reputation: 6460
Quote:
Originally Posted by pgtvatitans View Post
That's a great point. I don't know too many middle class families that have $3400/month of extra money. That is $40k/year. Who has $40k to spend in this economy?
My father paid for 6 years of private school and he was a cab driver. Now this was in the 80s so maybe the cost structure was different.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2013, 12:06 PM
 
2,429 posts, read 3,552,070 times
Reputation: 395
Quote:
No I moved a while ago. Still am a property owner though, so I come up quite
often still to handle business. Given that I am financially invested in PG, and
also that I have family there, I'm still interested in the ins and outs of the
county business, not to mention it's still the place I grew up, so naturally I'm
going to be interested in what goes on.
That's understandable.

Quote:

I agree with you completely that the nation's school system has really fallen
off but I believe there is still different degree of the quality of education
you can give your child, even now. Do you believe sending your child to Fairfax
is the same as sending your child to PG? I'm not one of those people who think
giving my child a good education is strictly on the school system and I'm not
going to do my part. To me this is a matter of what is best right now. PG
Schools are so, so unstable, it's scary. I mean having 7 Superintendents in 14
years is truly sad and really not good for the students. I don't think
elementary education in PG is the same as it is in other local jurisdictions,
I'm sorry. There are schools in DC I would send my daughter to than to send her
to a PG school. I don't knock those who choose to stay, but I also at the same
time think believe that people are being realistic if they believe the system as
a whole can change for the better while their child is in school. This is
decades of mess that has to be unwrapped.
Each system has its own pros and cons. Academically and in terms of parental involvement Fairfax leads head over foot. One of the challenges I have heard from friends/parents that are in the system (some transferring from PGC and some from out of the area) is that, in general, there are negative biases towards minority kids (especially black and hispanic boys). Again there are schools in fairfax where this is not an issue but it has been addressed to me as an issue. Even if its something as suttle as exclusion or the perception that a child represents their race and should have the answers to certain social/cultural questions. The impact of those non-academic issues can be just as damning as not having equity in academics. Now that doesn't excuse PGCS at all. In fact they should be held more accountable given what they are supposed to represent. Even with a significant percentage of the intellectual base and parental involvement migrating to private schools, it should still be a lot better than where they are. Especially when it comes to the quality of leadership (both with the superintendent and with the board). I do feel that there are schools in PGC (on all levels) that are doing well and add value to their student body but, as what was said before, most of those are due to the involvement of the parents. I agree that the system won't and can't change overnight. As a parent you have to make the best decision for your child. Some decide to go and others decide to stay. Whatever your decision we all have the responsiblity of creating the best opportunities for our child(ren) and not take a passive interest in what direction we want them to go in.

Quote:
Whoa, it wasn't meant to that serious. I am just pointing out that I believe there is this perception to dismiss Virginia schools and the tone in your posts was very dismissive of VA
(I'm not even trying to suggest everyone should move there). To say that the
good school district will cost a lot of money to stay in, is not really that
accurate. I also don't think it's necessary to point out that all VA schools
aren't equal. I think we all can acknowledge that, you can say that about any
school system or area. I honestly believe there are a lot of people in PG that
are kind of stuck on PG. I'm not saying everyone should leave, but man there is
this inexplicable notion to stay in PG. You even saw examples of it in the
article. People getting investment properties just to use the address to send
their kids to go to VA schools? Really, why not just move to VA? Is VA that
bad?
That is the interesting thing about "tones"/word choices in blogs, depending on your interpretation, one can miscontrue what is being conveyed. You thought that my tone conveyed one thing and I thought your tone convey another. Its this follow-up that adds clarity to our positions. My intention was not to be dismissive so if that was the impression I gave my apologies. My original intent was to get a complete picture of why you were thinking of moving (since at the time I thought you were still in FTW). I have seen others make that same decision and place themselves in a worse situation (aside from the school component) than what they were in previously. Not saying that was you but I just sought to understand your personal justification for making that move. As for people being stuck on PG, most of the people I know are transplants so I can only speak to my understanding of their motives. That said, most that I know are not really stuck on PG and would move if the desire hit them. If they moved the majority would rather move to DC but I believe that is more because they like being in the city and their kids are in private schools so it doesn't matter. As for people hating VA? I think there are about as many people that hate VA that hate DC or MD. I think you see more "hate" in this forum since it is MD. If you go to a VA forum, you see the mud sling over there as well. I live in NOVA for 5 years and although I enjoyed the amenities, I wasn't crazy about the political climate and (at the time) cost of housing was more than what I wanted to invest.
Quote:

I can tell you, living in PG, I have understood that people fall into a few
categories with why they choose to live/stay in PG





a) they have lived there and have never lived anywhere else. (that was me a
few years ago before I was forced to live briefly in Prince William County.
That experienced changed my whole perception of where to live in the
future).





b) black people who grew up in the south in predominantly racist towns who
long to be away from white people, and realized that PG provides the opportunity
to have a comfortable place to live away from any type of racism.





c) black people who grew up poor, have long heard of the 'black wealth' in PG
and consider PG a dream to live in.


And I'm sure there are other reasons, but those are the main reasons I have heard. There is also this perception that has been talked about in other thread that NoVA is racist. When you combine those things, it seems as though there are a lot of people that see PG as their only option. To me, PG is just another place to live at, it has it's good and bad things, but what I don't understand is if you are willing to break your neck to pay extra money to send your kids to private school, why not just use the extra money to get a house in another area? I can tell you for me personally, once I experienced living in a different place, I was a lot more open minded. Up until about a year and half ago, PG was still a consideration for my family, but it really comes down to does it make sense for us? To some families it does, but if you are paying $3400/month (like it was mentioned in the article) to send your child to private school, then at what point does it just make sense to simply move?

Another big reason is affordability. Remember the DC area's COL is ridiculous and if you want to own you may have to make compromises. I would love to live in Great Falls, MD or Potomac but I can't afford it........I mean I could claim a empty house as sovereign land but honestly I am too good looking to go to jail (LOL). I agree that no one should break there neck to send their kids to private school. Some people have great reasons for doing so but I find that a lot of people in this area do it to keep up with the jones. I have seen it in MD, VA, and DC so there is no one area that is more at fault than another. As I mentioned before I did it for middle school and, although the instruction was phenominal, I did it so that my son could be in a really small and structured environment. Because of the size the expectation to perform was high and so he did. I didn't want to move because I really like the neighborhood we were in and felt that dynamic would be difficult to replicate. I know a lot of other people who did it because they wanted to say their son or daughter went to x private school. That I don't understand.

Last edited by UrbanScholar; 05-29-2013 at 12:24 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2013, 01:24 PM
 
Location: DMV
10,125 posts, read 13,915,844 times
Reputation: 3222
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanScholar View Post
Each system has its own pros and cons. Academically and in terms of parental involvement Fairfax leads head over foot. One of the challenges I have heard from friends/parents that are in the system (some transferring from PGC and some from out of the area) is that, in general, there are negative biases towards minority kids (especially black and hispanic boys). Again there are schools in fairfax where this is not an issue but it has been addressed to me as an issue. Even if its something as suttle as exclusion or the perception that a child represents their race and should have the answers to certain social/cultural questions. The impact of those non-academic issues can be just as damning as not having equity in academics. Now that doesn't excuse PGCS at all. In fact they should be held more accountable given what they are supposed to represent. Even with a significant percentage of the intellectual base and parental involvement migrating to private schools, it should still be a lot better than where they are. Especially when it comes to the quality of leadership (both with the superintendent and with the board). I do feel that there are schools in PGC (on all levels) that are doing well and add value to their student body but, as what was said before, most of those are due to the involvement of the parents. I agree that the system won't and can't change overnight. As a parent you have to make the best decision for your child. Some decide to go and others decide to stay. Whatever your decision we all have the responsiblity of creating the best opportunities for our child(ren) and not take a passive interest in what direction we want them to go in.
Trust me when I say I agree with you completely on this. There was a thread on the NoVA forum a months ago talking about why more black people don't move to Western Fairfax, and this is one of the arguments I presented. I never wanted to move somewhere where my children would be so much of a minority that they would be ostracize for being black. I agree that those type of experiences are not good for kids, which is why my wife and I did some extensive research for quite a while. There is a misconception that because you have a place that is majority white and has a certain percentage of other races, but not necessarily black, that it's still considered diverse. Diversity is relative. In western Fairfax, a place in which I worked for a few years, finding black people is not very likely and I believe it would be difficult for our family to acclimate to a place like that, so places like Western Fairfax and Western Prince William were immediately taken off the list. I'm not one of those people that have to be around black people. I like the diversity of having neighbors of different races (which is something that I hope PG encourages more instead of using the wealthiest black moniker), but at the same time, I don't want to feel like I'm the only black person in a place. I have been around people who have limited interaction with black people, and as a result they make really ridiculous assumptions. For example, I had a co-worker at my old job that thought I grew up poor (didn't really know anything about me and had just met me) just because I stated I was from the area. Those type of stereotypes/assumptions can be bad for kids. My children need to see that they can relate to people of other races, just like I believe those kids of other races need to see that a black child isn't necessarily going to be like what they see on tv.

Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanScholar View Post
That is the interesting thing about "tones"/word choices in blogs, depending on your interpretation, one can miscontrue what is being conveyed. You thought that my tone conveyed one thing and I thought your tone convey another. Its this follow-up that adds clarity to our positions. My intention was not to be dismissive so if that was the impression I gave my apologies. My original intent was to get a complete picture of why you were thinking of moving (since at the time I thought you were still in FTW). I have seen others make that same decision and place themselves in a worse situation (aside from the school component) than what they were in previously. Not saying that was you but I just sought to understand your personal justification for making that move. As for people being stuck on PG, most of the people I know are transplants so I can only speak to my understanding of their motives. That said, most that I know are not really stuck on PG and would move if the desire hit them. If they moved the majority would rather move to DC but I believe that is more because they like being in the city and their kids are in private schools so it doesn't matter. As for people hating VA? I think there are about as many people that hate VA that hate DC or MD. I think you see more "hate" in this forum since it is MD. If you go to a VA forum, you see the mud sling over there as well. I live in NOVA for 5 years and although I enjoyed the amenities, I wasn't crazy about the political climate and (at the time) cost of housing was more than what I wanted to invest.
Very understandable on this website and on the internet in general and I apologize as well. I believe this is a topic that PG, as a whole, definitely needs to discuss more so I definitely understand your interest. Moving was inevitable for my family as we are a young growing family (we just had our second girl a year ago), so we were going to get a larger space regardless, but given that we were getting so close to our oldest child, getting ready for school, schools was a factor in deciding where to move. We considered moving to Prince William as well as Bowie for a long while. Bowie became less of an option especially after my wife's experience in working for PGCPS. She simply did not think the system as a whole would be great for our kids and through my experience mentoring in the schools, I was concerned that the school culture county wide had declined significantly since I graduated. I honestly do not think I could send my children to the same schools I went to and know that they would at least get the same level of education that I received. So we began looking into Prince William County more. The schools down there are definitely a hit or miss. There are parts in PWC similar to PG (Dale City, Dumfries for example) that have high FARM rates, single-parent homes, and poor performing. Even with that said, the good schools are really good, like award-winning, top in the state good. The area in which we live has about 4 or 5 schools that are amongst the top schools in the county and very high in the state. We also know a few people who have had kids in some of those schools who are very satisfied with the work being done there, and with all of that, PWC, except certain parts, is pretty affordable. I also would mention that it is really diverse. It's crazy because we have seen people from PG coming down to PWC (Potomac Mills, Stonebridge) to shop too so in certain parts, it's culturally similar to PG (black barber shops, beauty supply stores, etc.), which helps when you have to make such a drastic move, and doesn't give the feel that we moved to a parallel universe.

And the thing is Prince William County isn't the only place. I know quite a few people who have moved to Stafford or even Fredericksburg (even though the schools aren't great) and have the luxury of having an affordable places to live. It's not impossible. Certainly none of these places are like PG, but there are many black people who have moved to these areas and found them to be comfortable. I can't lie, when I told my family I was moving (most of them live in PG), they looked at us funny. I never quite understood it, but I believe there is a stigma between MD and VA, when it comes to race. There is a lot that both places can offer, it just depends on your situation and I don't think race should be THE issue, but it always seems to be. There is a lot of self-segregation that is taboo in the DC region.

Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanScholar View Post
Another big reason is affordability. Remember the DC area's COL is rediculous and if you want to own you may have to make compromises. I would love to live in Great Falls, MD or Potomac but I can't afford it........I mean I could claim a empty house as sovereign land but honestly I am too good looking to go to jail (LOL). I agree that no one should break there neck to send their kids to private school. Some people have great reasons for doing so but I find that a lot of people in this area do it to keep up with the jones. I have seen it in MD, VA, and DC so there is no one area that is more at fault than another. As I mentioned before I did it for middle school and, although the instruction was phenominal, I did it so that my son could be in a really small and structured environment. Because of the size the expectation to perform was high and so he did. I didn't want to move because I really like the neighborhood we were in and felt that dynamic would be difficult to replicate. I know a lot of other people who did it because they wanted to say their son or daughter went to x private school. That I don't understand.
Oh no you don't want to be like one of those Moorish Nationals, lol. Affordability is big, and I agree that makes PG attractive, but man when people got $3400/month to spend, it's no longer about affordability. I believe a lot of people choose PG for the price, but I think there are people like the one in the story, who clearly would be better served moving somewhere else. Is it tough moving? Yes it definitely is, but like you said you have to think about what's best for your kids. Is working long hours just to send your kids to private school worth it? We just had a thread about the mother making that crazy commute and never seeing her kids, this isn't much different. And yes it's about status too. That's the frustration that I have with PG, because if there was an overwhelming culture of putting education first, there would be less stories like this. If you can afford to send your kids to private school, and you believe it's best, then it makes sense, but when people are choosing the size of a house they can have or the other extra items they can afford or having the status of sending your child to that particular school, it becomes less and less about education. I think honestly if the school system was struggling, but there was more parental involvement, more accountability, I think I could get behind that and fight along with those parents, but there is such an absent culture of making education a priority, I just don't think it would be fair to my kids to hope they can overcome possible obstacles. I believe in giving my children the best that I can, or at least better than what I had. I can't see that happening in PG anytime soon in the public school system.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2013, 04:22 PM
 
2,429 posts, read 3,552,070 times
Reputation: 395
Quote:
Trust me when I say I agree with you completely on this. There was a thread on the NoVA forum a months ago talking about why more black people don't move to Western Fairfax, and this is one of the arguments I presented. I never wanted to move somewhere where my children would be so much of a minority that they would be ostracize for being black. I agree that those type of experiences are not good for kids, which is why my wife and I did some extensive research for quite a while. There is a misconception that because you have a place that is majority white and has a certain percentage of other races, but not necessarily black, that it's still considered diverse. Diversity is relative. In western Fairfax, a place in which I worked for a few years, finding black people is not very likely and I believe it would be difficult for our family to acclimate to a place like that, so places like Western Fairfax and Western Prince William were immediately taken off the list. I'm not one of those people that have to be around black people. I like the diversity of having neighbors of different races (which is something that I hope PG encourages more instead of using the wealthiest black moniker), but at the same time, I don't want to feel like I'm the only black person in a place. I have been around people who have limited interaction with black people, and as a result they make really ridiculous assumptions. For example, I had a co-worker at my old job that thought I grew up poor (didn't really know anything about me and had just met me) just because I stated I was from the area. Those type of stereotypes/assumptions can be bad for kids. My children need to see that they can relate to people of other races, just like I believe those kids of other races need to see that a black child isn't necessarily going to be like what they see on tv.
Based on previous conversations i was pretty sure that the research was done. I just wanted to do a deeper dive into your process. I have had conversations with other parents that only consider one facet of the complete equation. Parents that take that approach usually frustrate me. I agree there is often a miss perception of what diversity is. Even when you are moving into an area where you are the majority.

Quote:
Very understandable on this website and on the internet in general and I apologize as well. I believe this is a topic that PG, as a whole, definitely needs to discuss more so I definitely understand your interest. Moving was inevitable for my family as we are a young growing family (we just had our second girl a year ago), so we were going to get a larger space regardless, but given that we were getting so close to our oldest child, getting ready for school, schools was a factor in deciding where to move. We considered moving to Prince William as well as Bowie for a long while. Bowie became less of an option especially after my wife's experience in working for PGCPS. She simply did not think the system as a whole would be great for our kids and through my experience mentoring in the schools, I was concerned that the school culture county wide had declined significantly since I graduated. I honestly do not think I could send my children to the same schools I went to and know that they would at least get the same level of education that I received. So we began looking into Prince William County more. The schools down there are definitely a hit or miss. There are parts in PWC similar to PG (Dale City, Dumfries for example) that have high FARM rates, single-parent homes, and poor performing. Even with that said, the good schools are really good, like award-winning, top in the state good. The area in which we live has about 4 or 5 schools that are amongst the top schools in the county and very high in the state. We also know a few people who have had kids in some of those schools who are very satisfied with the work being done there, and with all of that, PWC, except certain parts, is pretty affordable. I also would mention that it is really diverse. It's crazy because we have seen people from PG coming down to PWC (Potomac Mills, Stonebridge) to shop too so in certain parts, it's culturally similar to PG (black barber shops, beauty supply stores, etc.), which helps when you have to make such a drastic move, and doesn't give the feel that we moved to a parallel universe.

And the thing is Prince William County isn't the only place. I know quite a few people who have moved to Stafford or even Fredericksburg (even though the schools aren't great) and have the luxury of having an affordable places to live. It's not impossible. Certainly none of these places are like PG, but there are many black people who have moved to these areas and found them to be comfortable. I can't lie, when I told my family I was moving (most of them live in PG), they looked at us funny. I never quite understood it, but I believe there is a stigma between MD and VA, when it comes to race. There is a lot that both places can offer, it just depends on your situation and I don't think race should be THE issue, but it always seems to be. There is a lot of self-segregation that is taboo in the DC region.
I actually have distant family that lives in stafford and Fredericksburg so I know what you mean. Race does seem to be the issue but I think it's because people have a difficult time shaking the values of the past and don't want or like Chang. When Obama one the first time a certain segment of our society lost their minds. That group still question whether he is a US citizen. The same happens with other groups. Will it change? Probably but not in our lifetime.

Quote:
Oh no you don't want to be like one of those Moorish Nationals, lol. Affordability is big, and I agree that makes PG attractive, but man when people got $3400/month to spend, it's no longer about affordability. I believe a lot of people choose PG for the price, but I think there are people like the one in the story, who clearly would be better served moving somewhere else. Is it tough moving? Yes it definitely is, but like you said you have to think about what's best for your kids. Is working long hours just to send your kids to private school worth it? We just had a thread about the mother making that crazy commute and never seeing her kids, this isn't much different. And yes it's about status too. That's the frustration that I have with PG, because if there was an overwhelming culture of putting education first, there would be less stories like this. If you can afford to send your kids to private school, and you believe it's best, then it makes sense, but when people are choosing the size of a house they can have or the other extra items they can afford or having the status of sending your child to that particular school, it becomes less and less about education. I think honestly if the school system was struggling, but there was more parental involvement, more accountability, I think I could get behind that and fight along with those parents, but there is such an absent culture of making education a priority, I just don't think it would be fair to my kids to hope they can overcome possible obstacles. I believe in giving my children the best that I can, or at least better than what I had. I can't see that happening in PG anytime soon in the public school system.
Yep I never understood going broke for an education be it public or private but with the latter it really doesn't make sense. I can say that there are a lot of scholarships and grants for private schools out there so it can be an option. Paying completely out pocket is just crazy unless you are at a school that is off the elite path. Those tend to be more reasonable. I agree about that effort being absent in PGC but your right it won't change in the short term. I think when we have a generation of under performers who are excluded from the global economy then it will change.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2013, 05:08 PM
 
Location: Fort Washington, MD
671 posts, read 1,540,012 times
Reputation: 620
I have been reaching out to my networks in my area, and I have met a number of parents that are Midwestern transplants similar to my family. I mention this because these families seem very attentive to the welfare of their children (as is a typical stereotype of families from the Midwest). What they have shared with me is quite startling: many of them have nothing but negative things to say about the local public schools -- even the ones rated 'better than terrible' by the Great Schools organization. One particular anecdote that I wish to share is from one parent who relayed to me that her family temporarily lived in Virginia, where they had no problem. But when they relocated to Maryland and subsequently placed her kids in the local PG public schools, their kindergarten-aged child would now sob on a daily basis while showing other severe changes in moods. She would tell me how her personal observations of her child's teachers show teachers that aren't 'exhausted' as we would intuitively assume from the outside, but rather a genuinely uninspired staff that appear to be present only out of paycheck necessity. Is this what we want from our schools? Is this what we demand from our teachers? Is this what we expect from the educational leadership that we have bestowed the intellectual future of our children?

Folks, at a certain point we have to just stop giving schools excuses for being terrible. Parents of bad children exist I know, but I dare say they are nowhere in the majority. Their ability to effect other kids is most strongly affected not by parents but by the tolerance of teachers in enabling an anti-intellectual culture within the schools. And although I am sure that a large number of the socioeconomic elite sends their children to private school rather than public school, it does not mean that coming from a poor family equates to inherent insufficiencies in student quality (I am a shining example of this, having had grown up in poverty). We have wealthy communities paying high property taxes to fund the public schools, yet it regularly churns out results that would not even surpass third-world standards.

I picked where I lived knowing the problems with the schools. But that did not deter me because there is so much greatness in the Maryland suburbs, especially where I live in Fort Washington. Heck, *my* family is not black and we are in love with this area; we would pick here over Western Fairfax any day. It does not mean that I am willing to compromise on this one particular issue of inept educational leadership. We need to clean up the problem with the school system, and it takes more than just having parents 'actively' going to Parent-Teacher conferences or joining the PTO. We need policy change and a restructuring of the entire educational system. What we have seen with what Executive Baker has done regarding the School Board... that is nothing but a gimmick to mask political posturing. We need meaningful policy change, and unfortunately the structure of the system has not reached a point where it would have no choice but to do make such changes (so as long as the middle and upper middle class families are content with moving their children to private schools).

My daughter is now almost of age for elementary school. I have not decided whether or not to send my daughter to private school, but even if I do, I will campaign on behalf of all of PG for change when such opportunities present themselves. Other than that, I, like many other good parents, feel at a loss as to what to do. But unlike other parents, I will not let my loss mean defeat or allow my fear to get the best of me. No matter where I place my daughter, she will have a strong path that will lead to nothing short of success. By extension, I want that same reality to be the concluding narrative for ALL Prince Georges County children, from now and into the future.

Last edited by molukai; 05-29-2013 at 05:21 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2013, 10:26 AM
 
74 posts, read 170,496 times
Reputation: 62
Fast GTO - you don't think $150K is middle class? In this area? Our household income is in the $150s and we are definitely not wealthy. Cost of living and income are linked. It's expensive to live in the DC metro.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2013, 11:39 AM
 
Location: the future
2,558 posts, read 4,601,762 times
Reputation: 1567
Default boredatwork

Pg this PG that. PG is just a place. Its the households that make up the neighborhood and the overrall community. Whether you are average, above average or below average, a good household or upbringing will influence and improve the individual more-so than a broken home or a household with a lack of home training
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Maryland > Washington, DC suburbs in Maryland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top