patrick.net

bmwman91 says

Obviously money plays a big part in American life, but generally one's own happiness is completely within their own control. "It's all in your head." You can choose to see everyone around you as being happier than you because they have things that you don't have, and then working hard to earn money to buy the happiness that you assume that they have. Lots of people do that, and our entire economy is predicated on people thinking precisely this way: "I need more money or else I will never be happy." It is no accident that so many people are plagued with this unhealthy mentality; it is spoon-fed to us from birth. Competition, envy and fear of irrational future outcomes keeps the wheels of our economy spinning.

That's the best summary of American existence I have seen to date. Well put!

'Good Schools' is for sure racial profiling code word.

Also I good rule for buying RE in a big citiy is that if a typical white lady wont feel safe going for a walk around the block at night - then dont buy there (white/asian women set RE prices at some level - it must be a 'safe nest').

Awesome BMWman! Happiness and independent thought!

What drives humanity:

1) Greed
2) Fear
3) Envy (which is Greed + Fear)

"And I saw that all labor and achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." -- Ecclesiastes 4:4

It makes much more since to rent in a good school district. Take Cupertino for example: The average 3bed/2bath cost a little over $1 million. Which would put your mortgage payment over 6k a month with an 3.5% down FHA loan. 3bed/2bath rentals are roughly half of that, around 3k/month. If you are a family but can not afford to private school it would make a lot of since to rent in a place like this.

wthrfrk80 says

Public education is a joke. Standards are set low so that everyone can pass.

So true. Pretty soon we will be getting teachers from China to teach math to our students. :)

NickJohnson12 says

OK so our Movoto blog discussed public schooling, and in particular, how living near an awesome school district could add value to your property. Our theory is that saving money by not having to enroll your kids in private school carries a lot of weight.

http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/top-notch-public-schools-add-1-million-of-property-value/

Thoughts, experiences, opinions?

So why didnt SF SouthBay RE prices skyrocket during the 70s and 80s... why wait until the post 1999 ? Its was the same schools system and same unionized teachers ?

So today, you use great schools to justify million dollar schools which if you compare to private schools are still overpaying several times over.

Well.. API wasn't started until 1999.

Pre-API pretty much everybody assumed their school district was above-average since there was no exact ranking system.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

put the kids into an environment in which storm-trooper intellect is the norm and 1500+ SATs are considered average and, most importantly, where it's OK to be smart and uncool to be fucking stupid.

Don't forget hand-to-hand combat skills!

this is why we have a Charter School system in Arizona. works great.

PockyClipsNow says

'Good Schools' is for sure racial profiling code word.

Also I good rule for buying RE in a big citiy is that if a typical white lady wont feel safe going for a walk around the block at night - then dont buy there (white/asian women set RE prices at some level - it must be a 'safe nest').

Another rule: it is a good neighborhood for me if I look like the "riff-raff". :)

zesta says

Well.. API wasn't started until 1999.

Pre-API pretty much everybody assumed their school district was above-average since there was no exact ranking system

did we produce idiots before 1999 ? back in the 70s 80s 90s... so API is rather worthless... we certainly didnt need the GIN!

anyway.. i think BACAH has a better explanation on API

http://realestate.patrick.net/comments.php?a=257&submit=Search

The "API-ism" is outsourcing parenting responsibilities to a standardized test score that was intended for the state to identify where to focus and shift its resources. It (API) was never intended for Realtor®s and Quants to Gin Up people on where to over pay for housing nor for Tiger Mom to Keep Her Face in the Pecking Order of her Social Circle. It was never intended for those things; but inside the minds of certain groups, that's what the API has become.

Welcome to what has become of SIlicon Valley."

Jun 14, 2012 2:22 PM in Cupertino Shmoopertino

I didn't comment on the validity of API scores. I merely stated that they were introduced in 1999. I agree with BACAH that they weren't intended for people to overpay for housing, but that's what has happened.

Pre-API people just assumed their school district was fine and above-average. Now that there's a number and ranking,many people are clamoring to get into a top school, inflating home prices in those areas.

If one believes API is useless or has another metric for determining which school is best I guess they can save some money by going against API scores.

That doesn't change the fact that districts with high API scores adds some value to properties in that district.

All scores tend to become meaningless over time because they can be gamed around.

It is just important to have a school relatively free of drugs and unreasonable bullies. (Some teasing may not be a bad thing.)

I'll just call Tom Cruise. He knows everything.

Peter P says

It is just important to have a school relatively free of drugs and unreasonable bullies. (Some teasing may not be a bad thing.)

Definitely! I think that the "pressure cooker" schools you find in high-API areas like Cupertino can be detrimental to kids' development, just in different ways.

bmwman91 says

My fiancee used to work with a girl that attended Harker and grew up in Los Altos. She (Harker girl) was a sales account manager at a medium sized Taiwanese PC hardware company in north San Jose, which certainly isn't bad, but definitely isn't the road to riches. She quit to go work at Dropbox as a sales account manager and was laid off about 6 months later. I believe that this girl got her degree at UC Berkeley, although I forget what the degree was in. She and her parents, "did everything right," but so far isn't living the glamorous life some people assume automatically comes with names like Harker and UCB. She is only 27 though, so she has plenty of time to turn it all around, and for her sake I hope that things do turn around.

She could always follow the example of the women in my family and marry rich....

bmwman91 says

Peter P says

It is just important to have a school relatively free of drugs and unreasonable bullies. (Some teasing may not be a bad thing.)

Definitely! I think that the "pressure cooker" schools you find in high-API areas like Cupertino can be detrimental to kids' development, just in different ways.

I love those high-API schools. It is like real-life comedy! I want to laugh out loud every time I overhear parents discussing API scores. Why would parents want to do that to their kids? Do they want to reduce everything in life to a number? What about 42?

Peter P says

Why would parents want to do that to their kids? Do they want to reduce everything in life to a number?

Because that's what America is all about.

If you're not the best of the best, you're a loser and deserve to die hungry and naked in the gutter. It's in the Bible.

wthrfrk80 says

Because that's what America is all about.

If you're not the best of the best, you're a loser and deserve to die hungry and naked in the gutter. It's in the Bible.

Winner take all! Its the central law of nature

New renter says

Winner take all! Its the central law of nature

And Calvinism. Which is the basis of American religion, whether cousciously or unconsciously. Gotta prove I'm part of the "elect" by having more money than you do.

wthrfrk80 says

New renter says

Winner take all! Its the central law of nature

And Calvinism. Which is the basis of American religion, whether cousciously or unconsciously. Gotta prove I'm part of the "elect" by having more money than you do.

Yes but WWJD?

New renter says

Yes but WWJD?

That's irrelevant to a Calvinist.

wthrfrk80 says

New renter says

Yes but WWJD?

That's irrelevant to a Calvinist.

Why? Are they not Christians?

wthrfrk80 says

If you're not the best of the best, you're a loser and deserve to die hungry and naked in the gutter. It's in the Bible.

Going to a good school will not make them the best of the best. They may become the best of the mediocre, but that is aiming too low.

I just heard one of the weirder rationalizations this morning for why someone bought a residence in The Fortress, with Fortress Prices (Fortress Property Tax, etc.): because it was hopeless to "get into" one of the Challenger Preschools near the "outside Fortress Walls" neighborhood where they lived before.

B.A.C.A.H. says

I just heard one of the weirder rationalizations this morning for why someone bought a residence in The Fortress, with Fortress Prices (Fortress Property Tax, etc.): because it was hopeless to "get into" one of the Challenger Preschools near the "outside Fortress Walls" neighborhood where they lived before.

So they bought fortress house so their kid could go to a slightly better preschool?

Preschool? Really?

There must be more to that story.

There is a radio ad for Gilroy Gardens running on KFOX right now that is in the same vein as what BACAH posted. "Parents will do anything to ensure that their kids get a great education in the Bay Area, from in-utero college prep courses to (some other inane BS). Come to Gilroy Gardens where we make learning FUN!" Well, if your kid does not find learning to be fun, then they aren't going to be much more than a drone. They might be a very well paid drone (which is the main objective for certain demographics of parents), but a drone none the less.

Aside from the costs involved here, I think that I will leave the area before having my first kid solely because of the idiocy that runs rampant here. Tiger Parents and Grade Ghettos and all that hog wash. God help me, my kid is going to sit on his fucking ass in the dirt and play with a stick in the back yard. GASP! Unstructured play time! There will be no Purell in my house, breeding super bacteria. Lousy behavior will be met with a spanking* because my kids need to understand that you can't talk your way out of consequences in every instance in life.

*Which is why I need to leave this place to raise my kids into adults. I'd be lynched by the feel-good parents if they found out. There's a difference between spanking and hitting, but a lot of people don't get it.

New renter says

There must be more to that story.

Yes I suspect there is more to the story, but I didn't ask.

S/he was still dealing with being kind of dazed and confused like I threw some kind of sucker punch when having just said that both my kids got 5's as 11th graders on the AP calculus exam with only ever having attended public K-12's in East San Jose. (And that the oldest also got "5" on 2nd year calculus).

bmwman91 says

Aside from the costs involved here, I think that I will leave the area before having my first kid solely because of the idiocy that runs rampant here. Tiger Parents and Grade Ghettos and all that hog wash.

Bimmerman, that you must choose between Tiger Parent Grade Grubbing Ghetto and Gang Banging Ghetto is a false choice. Not all of the public K-12 in the less expensive neighborhoods are Nightmare Schools. You just have to know your neighborhoods and know your schools. You can have your Cool 'N Hip Silicon Valley Techie Job (and Salary) and have a reasonably priced home, you just have to be open minded to share your space with Latinos. They are not all bad.

B.A.C.A.H. says

They are not all bad.

Many are very bright and very eager kids today.. as they have been for many many decades before.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Bimmerman, that you must choose between Tiger Parent Grade Grubbing Ghetto and Gang Banging Ghetto is a false choice. Not all of the public K-12 in the less expensive neighborhoods are Nightmare Schools. You just have to know your neighborhoods and know your schools. You can have your Cool 'N Hip Silicon Valley Techie Job (and Salary) and have a reasonably priced home, you just have to be open minded to share your space with Latinos. They are not all bad.

Of course. Personally, Latinos do generally know how to build a community where neighbors actually know each other, rather than the stolid impersonality of upper middle class white neighborhoods.

My plan is to not give a shit about the school district and put them in parochial school with all the money I didn't spend on Cupertino or Saratoga.

bmwman91 says

plan is to not give a shit about the school district and put them in parochial school with all the money

If you say so. Could if you want to. Spending money may indeed be easier than boots on the ground parenting.

On the other hand investing your time in being on the campus, in PTA, etc., could be the best investment of time you ever spent, and the best investment of money you never spent.

My partner and I burned lotsa PTO a day here, a day there, on campus of K-12 instead of jet setting to "back home" overseas or to some exotic vacation place. Still doing it as my youngest is still in K-12.

B.A.C.A.H. says

bmwman91 says

plan is to not give a shit about the school district and put them in parochial school with all the money

If you say so. Could if you want to. Spending money may indeed be easier than boots on the ground parenting.

On the other hand investing your time in being on the campus, in PTA, etc., could be the best investment of time you ever spent, and the best investment of money you never spent.

My partner and I burned lotsa PTO a day here, a day there, on campus of K-12 instead of jet setting to "back home" overseas or to some exotic vacation place. Still doing it as my youngest is still in K-12.

It sounds like you are describing Harker or something. The schools I am thinking of cost maybe $7k a year and still demand a lot of parental involvement. No amount of money can replace proper parental involvement.

bmwman91 says

The schools I am thinking of cost maybe $7k a year

bmwman, if you are budgeting that amount for your child's education you might want to so some serious due diligence of benchmarking those 7K per year parohcial school against some public K-12's.

Like I said, nothing will beat boots on the ground.

This is how I did my due diligence, back in the day when I was in what sounds like your stage of life
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I don't understand this current obsession with school districts. I and many people I know were all educated in semi-rural schools and are doing just fine.

Of course back then, the economy was like the strong incoming tide that lifted all boats. Now it is like the receding tide that stranded all the boats!
Just wondering is there any decent SFR house under 500k in the peninsula or you have to go towards Morgan Hill and Gilroy?

B.A.C.A.H. says

you just have to be open minded to share your space with Latinos. They are not all bad.

But Fox News told me they were all bad...

bmwman91 says

No amount of money can replace proper parental involvement.

Yep. That's the heart of the matter.

Right wing politicians bitching about "lazy" teachers won't help.

Left wing politicians wanting to "throw more money at the problem" won't help.

This WSJ article seems to encapsulate a lot of the Fortress mentality regarding schooling where 'only the best' will do.

One of the students who sought out Ms. Kong, 16-year-old Leland Lam, says he attended Mills High for his freshman and sophomore years between 2009 and 2011, and was pulled out of the school in his fifth week there last fall, in his junior year, and sent to Capuchino High. Between his second and third years at Mills, Mr. Lam's parents moved to San Francisco, so the student moved in to his aunt's home in Millbrae and listed it as his official residence in order to continue attending Mills.

Mr. Lam says he provided the school district with a notarized affidavit listing his aunt as a guardian, but the district insisted on a court-approved letter proving that guardianship. After going to court in December to establish his aunt as his legal guardian, Mr. Lam will complete his senior year at Mills.
...
The other student, whose parents live in China, lived in Millbrae with a guardian, according to Ms. Kong.