5 ms·

> People seem to be more concerned about school district quality, restricting the amount of housing supply seen as viable. (I made this one up, apologies if tha

by bmurphy1976 10y ago

> People seem to be more concerned about school district quality, restricting the amount of housing supply seen as viable. (I made this one up, apologies if that's wrong). You are not wrong. We are in this exact position right now. We are likely going to be forced to do an add on to our house which is too small (and all the bs this entails). If we move, we lose the nice school district and location. If we buy new in the same neighborhood we are house poor. If we buy used we have a compromised house like we already own. If we tear down and rebuild, we are house poor again and taxes go through the roof. It sucks, there's no easy option and the school district is the most important consideration by far.

tamana 10y ago
Good school district is mostly a myth. A "good school" is mainly school whose students come from successful families. You could raise your kids anywhere reasonably safe and they'd do just as well as at a "good school" , as long your family and your kids' friends maintain an ethic for education
- matthewmcg 10y ago
  Maybe the causal relationship is a myth, but that's enough to create a self-reinforcing phenomenon of inter-related property values and perceived school quality.
- Swizec 10y ago
  Imho it's a network effect. Peer pressure is real. Do you want your kids to be peer pressured into high paying careers or into minimum wage jobs?
  - HarryHirsch 10y ago
    Also, network effect amongst the teachers. Do you want to teach or do you want to pretend to teach?
- bmurphy1976 10y ago
  Yeah I don't think so. I've got three kids to fund through college. It is extraordinary important that we get this right. I know we could send them to private school but there are tradeoffs just like with everything else. It's a huge ugly balancing act.
  - orangecat 10y ago
    There is actually decent support for the GP's position. Unfortunately any discussions of it tend to quickly hit taboo topics. See http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/28/book-review-the-two-income-trap/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/28/book-review-the-two-inc..., especially section IX.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- yardie 10y ago
  Speak for yourself. As someone who has gone to a "bad school" and a "good school" just by the school district rezoning I'd take the "good school" every time. Poverty is a major contributing problem but it's not something a 10 year old can fix nor ignore. I'm talking about the daily disruptions in learning such as not enough books, bullying, lesson interruptions because of disruptive students, drug dealing, and etc. These are problems no amount of ethics can overcome.
- superuser2 10y ago
  > A "good school" is mainly school whose students come from successful families. You could raise your kids anywhere reasonably safe and they'd do just as well as at a "good school" It may be (probably is) true that the main determinant of school "quality" is the socioeconomic status of the families of its students. It doesn't follow that a single child from a successful family would do well in a failing school,
blackguardx 10y ago
Aren't most houses "used?" I actually prefer houses built before 1970 to modern houses. The architecture tends to be nicer, in my opinion.
- bmurphy1976 10y ago
  I meant older not necessarily used. The problems with old homes: bugs, mice, cracks in the foundation, poor plumbing, bad electrical work, small closets, weird rooms, old windows, mold, rotten woodwork, and on and on and on. It takes a lot of time and money to address these issues. The problem is you won't necessarily be able to fix all the problems and still get your money back unless you sit on it for 20 years. The house has to remain price competitive with all the newer homes that simply don't have as many issues. That drives the price of the older homes down and limits how much work you can put into it without putting yourself underwater. None of these problems are insurmountable, for sure, but they do have the effect of limiting what we can comfortably do with our home. If we make all the repairs we want, we have to sit on it or potentially lose a good chunk of our money if we are forced to sell early. That goes right back to the heart of this discussion and the lack of flexibility in labor markets.
  - bmurphy1976 10y ago
    One other detail. In my neighborhood, new means million dollar monster home. Those are the only thing they build anymore. Its not really cost effective to build anything less and that's way too much house cash and taxes for us. It has the unfortunate side effect of driving good ordinary average middle class people like us out of the neighborhood.

tamana 10y ago

Good school district is mostly a myth. A "good school" is mainly school whose students come from successful families. You could raise your kids anywhere reasonably safe and they'd do just as well as at a "good school" , as long your family and your kids' friends maintain an ethic for education

matthewmcg 10y ago
Maybe the causal relationship is a myth, but that's enough to create a self-reinforcing phenomenon of inter-related property values and perceived school quality.
Swizec 10y ago
Imho it's a network effect. Peer pressure is real. Do you want your kids to be peer pressured into high paying careers or into minimum wage jobs?
- HarryHirsch 10y ago
  Also, network effect amongst the teachers. Do you want to teach or do you want to pretend to teach?
bmurphy1976 10y ago
Yeah I don't think so. I've got three kids to fund through college. It is extraordinary important that we get this right. I know we could send them to private school but there are tradeoffs just like with everything else. It's a huge ugly balancing act.
- orangecat 10y ago
  There is actually decent support for the GP's position. Unfortunately any discussions of it tend to quickly hit taboo topics. See http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/28/book-review-the-two-income-trap/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/28/book-review-the-two-inc..., especially section IX.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
yardie 10y ago
Speak for yourself. As someone who has gone to a "bad school" and a "good school" just by the school district rezoning I'd take the "good school" every time. Poverty is a major contributing problem but it's not something a 10 year old can fix nor ignore. I'm talking about the daily disruptions in learning such as not enough books, bullying, lesson interruptions because of disruptive students, drug dealing, and etc. These are problems no amount of ethics can overcome.
superuser2 10y ago
> A "good school" is mainly school whose students come from successful families. You could raise your kids anywhere reasonably safe and they'd do just as well as at a "good school" It may be (probably is) true that the main determinant of school "quality" is the socioeconomic status of the families of its students. It doesn't follow that a single child from a successful family would do well in a failing school,

blackguardx 10y ago

Aren't most houses "used?" I actually prefer houses built before 1970 to modern houses. The architecture tends to be nicer, in my opinion.

bmurphy1976 10y ago
I meant older not necessarily used. The problems with old homes: bugs, mice, cracks in the foundation, poor plumbing, bad electrical work, small closets, weird rooms, old windows, mold, rotten woodwork, and on and on and on. It takes a lot of time and money to address these issues. The problem is you won't necessarily be able to fix all the problems and still get your money back unless you sit on it for 20 years. The house has to remain price competitive with all the newer homes that simply don't have as many issues. That drives the price of the older homes down and limits how much work you can put into it without putting yourself underwater. None of these problems are insurmountable, for sure, but they do have the effect of limiting what we can comfortably do with our home. If we make all the repairs we want, we have to sit on it or potentially lose a good chunk of our money if we are forced to sell early. That goes right back to the heart of this discussion and the lack of flexibility in labor markets.
- bmurphy1976 10y ago
  One other detail. In my neighborhood, new means million dollar monster home. Those are the only thing they build anymore. Its not really cost effective to build anything less and that's way too much house cash and taxes for us. It has the unfortunate side effect of driving good ordinary average middle class people like us out of the neighborhood.