Population dropoff (Chicago, Norwood: school district, university, moving to)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Attrill

There are a lot of good private schools that cost a lot less than half that - Montessori and Catholic schools for example. Education is definitely a concern in the city, but I think there are more options than most people see.

I've been touring elementary schools and have been finding test scores to be an imperfect way to judge schools. There are a lot of open enrollment schools that I have been impressed with. While they have middle of the road test scores, some had a really great environment when I sat in on classes and met the students, parents, and staff. As ajolotl said, a good honors program is important.

A lot of the Catholic schools are just not that great. Sure, many are O.K., but I don't see the advantage to paying 10K+ for a mediocre private education in the city. The good Montessori schools are not cheap. You won't find a decent private school in the city for less than $10K per child (and they rarely give you a discount for multiple kids).

I've had the opposite reaction to the "good" CPS schools. I'm just not impressed. We'll be going to more open houses this year as we look at pre-schools, but I'm dismayed right now. In a pinch I could see sending my child to a "good CPS school" for a year or two when they were young, but I wouldn't want to go K-12 if my child wasn't in the gifted program or some accelerated track.

I personally am 100% the product of public schools, but I also felt limited by the fact that my public high school was just so-so. Kids in my college freshman class that went to prestigious public schools were MUCH better prepared than I was. And I was a good student!

I love city life and don't deny that there are great opportunities here for children to grow up enriched. But there is no denying that the best "bang for your education buck" is a good suburban public school district--especially if you have more than one kid. This is not to say that there aren't other options available to give your kids a good education in the city, but they will cost ya--or involve a roll of the dice (i.e. CPS gifted program, selective enrollment schools, IB, etc.) I live in the city with my wife and daughter and would like to stay here. We may make it work by moving to a better CPS attendance area or forking up private school tuition. But this urban dweller can definitely feel, for the first time in my life, why there is some appeal to certain suburbs.

[icebergsyndrome]

oh let's just enforce a sterilization program so that there is NO need for any future schools.

[nJohn]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

A lot of the Catholic schools are just not that great. Sure, many are O.K., but I don't see the advantage to paying 10K+ for a mediocre private education in the city. The good Montessori schools are not cheap. You won't find a decent private school in the city for less than $10K per child (and they rarely give you a discount for multiple kids).

I attended one of the "better" parochial schools and I thought the education was solid and challenging. Granted my parents were able to afford it so I'm very fortunate. I was prepared for high school and now I'm succeeding in college.

[crbcrbrgv]

Lookout is right. Although Chicago does have a lot of great private schools, they aren't all great. Furthermore, they are almost all Catholic. Therefore, if you have issues with your child being taught religion in a Catholic perspective, you are either out of luck or you have to send your child to a school that is teaching your child something you don't believe in one hour a day five days a week. The alternatives of course are the publics. The problem with them is the fact that often times the less than mediocre student from Hinsdale Central, Fremd or Maine South is more prepared for college than many of the top ten percent of students coming from, say Senn or Mather.

[Lookout Kid]

One thing I will point out is that Chicago has a better private school infrastructure than all but a handfull of large U.S. cities. New York is probably tops in this respect. But most U.S. cities don't have more than a few decent private school options, while Chicago has MANY. The problem is that the good ones are quite expensive.

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

Lookout is right. Although Chicago does have a lot of great private schools, they aren't all great. Furthermore, they are almost all Catholic. Therefore, if you have issues with your child being taught religion in a Catholic perspective, you are either out of luck or you have to send your child to a school that is teaching your child something you don't believe in one hour a day five days a week. The alternatives of course are the publics. The problem with them is the fact that often times the less than mediocre student from Hinsdale Central, Fremd or Maine South is more prepared for college than many of the top ten percent of students coming from, say Senn or Mather.

[ajolotl]

I just checked Lab school -- it is more expensive than I realized, ranging from 16.5K in the early years to 21.5k in high school. Still a bit better than 25K though.

I personally despise paying property taxes + private tuition. How do you feel about the voucher concept? Seems a bit more fair for people in this position so you're not essentially paying twice.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

I just checked Lab school -- it is more expensive than I realized, ranging from 16.5K in the early years to 21.5k in high school. Still a bit better than 25K though.

Still can't afford it! Maybe we could get one kid in there at that rate, but two kids just sounds crazy with numbers like that. I'd rather apply that money to my mortgage and have a nicer house.

I fully support school choice vouchers. I feel the public school system is a failed system, and that we have no choice but to seek private options. At least vouchers allow money to be spent wisely. My mother-in-law teaches in an inner city Catholic school in Milwaukee, and her school wouldn't exist without this voucher system.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

Lookout is right. Although Chicago does have a lot of great private schools, they aren't all great. Furthermore, they are almost all Catholic.

They certainly aren't all great, but they also aren't "almost all Catholic". Catholic Schools might be in the majority, but there are loads of non Catholic Schools in Chicago (especially in the PK-8 grades). At NPN School Fairs the vast majority of private schools represented are not Catholic Schools. There are Montessori schools, Jewish Schools, Language Based Schools (i.e. Lycee Francais, German School), and a variety of non-denominational schools (Latin, Cook, university/college schools).

My wife and I are kind of overwhelmed by the number of schools and researching all of them, but we've come to feel that it is better than moving to a suburb where we would basically have one public school and a handful of private schools to choose from. If the public school doesn't work out in a suburb you're kind of stuck (at least in today's real estate market). We have a few friends who have ended up feeling burned by the public schools in the suburban districts they moved to - just because it is in the suburbs doesn't mean it is guaranteed to be a good school.

[ajolotl]

Is there any support for such a system in Chicago? What are the arguments against it. I'm totally ignorant on the subject but curious.

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I fully support school choice vouchers. I feel the public school system is a failed system, and that we have no choice but to seek private options. At least vouchers allow money to be spent wisely. My mother-in-law teaches in an inner city Catholic school in Milwaukee, and her school wouldn't exist without this voucher system.

[ChiMack]

chicago needs to start building like new york city, tall buildings right next to each other just start packing homes and apts right next to each other and make them huge that will increae our population :P