4 ms·

I lived in Austin for the past two years and was quite disappointed by the people, the city, and the schools. Glad to be out of there and I have no interest in

I lived in Austin for the past two years and was quite disappointed by the people, the city, and the schools. Glad to be out of there and I have no interest in moving back despite it being my hometown. Number one complaint, the city has feeble public offerings (no zoo, no aquarium, no subway or light rail, small museums). Number two complaint, the schools are overrated (and Texas math is one grade year behind most other states). Number three complaint, I encountered a lot of people with a remarkable lack of integrity. Sorry to say that as it was the most surprising and disappointing.

dajohnson89 8y ago
Could you elaborate on the integrity bit? Shady people exist everywhere,why expect Austin to be better?
- itronitron 8y ago
  True, shady people do exist everywhere but I expected more of Austin due to it being in a part of the country where someone's word is supposed to, or at least used to, mean something. Maybe I'm old-fashioned that way. To elaborate on the integrity bit, ... over-promising to the point of creating an expectation that would not be met or acknowledged at any point in the future. Some people might refer to that behavior as being 'flaky'. And I should note that most people in Austin are not like that, but that I encountered a lot more flakiness there than in other cities.
  - dajohnson89 8y ago
    Having grown up in the South, I think I understand what you experienced.
    - xeromal 8y ago
      Yeah, someone's word seems to count a bit more in smaller towns from my own experience too. I grew up in nothern GA and between the methheads and bill o'reilly fans, there's a lot of goodhearted, honest people there with old-school values. If you break down on the side of the road, you'll certainly have a couple people stop to help you in a bit. I never got that in LA. I have done my part though. :)
  - ikeyany 8y ago
    You would really like Minneapolis/St Paul or Madison.
onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago
Do you have anything to back up your claim about math? I see here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/02/08/geographic-disparity-states-best-and-worst-schools/1079181001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/02/08/geog... -- that Texas ranks pretty low in math. But it's hard to say what that really means. I've been under the impression that Texas's k-12 education is much better than California's and on par with New York and Illinois. Texas has something crazy like 1/5th of all k-12 students in the country. That number has shot up faster than any other state, so I think it's reasonable if they're having some "growing pains" so to speak.
- itronitron 8y ago
  Personal experience and greatschools.org used to have a math comparison by state but I think they have changed their site since I last saw it. Parents that can afford to move into the city send their children to private schools, so if you are looking at moving there and your children don't play football then I would recommend considering private school as an option.
- moorhosj 8y ago
  ==I've been under the impression that Texas's k-12 education is much better than California's and on par with New York and Illinois.== Your own source disagrees: 9. New York 16. Illinois 35. California 40. Texas ==Texas has something crazy like 1/5th of all k-12 students in the country.== It's more like 1/10th. Texas has 5.4 million in public k-12 [1] and there are 50.7 million in the US public k-12 [2]. ==That number has shot up faster than any other state, so I think it's reasonable if they're having some "growing pains" so to speak.== A good way to get past those growing pains would be to invest in education. Again, from your source on Texas "Public school spending: $8,485 per pupil (4th lowest)". [1] https://tea.texas.gov/Reports_and_Data/School_Performance/Accountability_Research/Enrollment_Trends/?LangType=1033 https://tea.texas.gov/Reports_and_Data/School_Performance/Ac... [2] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
rdxm 8y ago
what school district were you in? I've been here 20 years and my kids were very well served educationally.

dajohnson89 8y ago

Could you elaborate on the integrity bit? Shady people exist everywhere,why expect Austin to be better?

itronitron 8y ago
True, shady people do exist everywhere but I expected more of Austin due to it being in a part of the country where someone's word is supposed to, or at least used to, mean something. Maybe I'm old-fashioned that way. To elaborate on the integrity bit, ... over-promising to the point of creating an expectation that would not be met or acknowledged at any point in the future. Some people might refer to that behavior as being 'flaky'. And I should note that most people in Austin are not like that, but that I encountered a lot more flakiness there than in other cities.
- dajohnson89 8y ago
  Having grown up in the South, I think I understand what you experienced.
  - xeromal 8y ago
    Yeah, someone's word seems to count a bit more in smaller towns from my own experience too. I grew up in nothern GA and between the methheads and bill o'reilly fans, there's a lot of goodhearted, honest people there with old-school values. If you break down on the side of the road, you'll certainly have a couple people stop to help you in a bit. I never got that in LA. I have done my part though. :)
- ikeyany 8y ago
  You would really like Minneapolis/St Paul or Madison.

onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago

Do you have anything to back up your claim about math? I see here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/02/08/geographic-disparity-states-best-and-worst-schools/1079181001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/02/08/geog... -- that Texas ranks pretty low in math. But it's hard to say what that really means. I've been under the impression that Texas's k-12 education is much better than California's and on par with New York and Illinois. Texas has something crazy like 1/5th of all k-12 students in the country. That number has shot up faster than any other state, so I think it's reasonable if they're having some "growing pains" so to speak.

itronitron 8y ago
Personal experience and greatschools.org used to have a math comparison by state but I think they have changed their site since I last saw it. Parents that can afford to move into the city send their children to private schools, so if you are looking at moving there and your children don't play football then I would recommend considering private school as an option.
moorhosj 8y ago
==I've been under the impression that Texas's k-12 education is much better than California's and on par with New York and Illinois.== Your own source disagrees: 9. New York 16. Illinois 35. California 40. Texas ==Texas has something crazy like 1/5th of all k-12 students in the country.== It's more like 1/10th. Texas has 5.4 million in public k-12 [1] and there are 50.7 million in the US public k-12 [2]. ==That number has shot up faster than any other state, so I think it's reasonable if they're having some "growing pains" so to speak.== A good way to get past those growing pains would be to invest in education. Again, from your source on Texas "Public school spending: $8,485 per pupil (4th lowest)". [1] https://tea.texas.gov/Reports_and_Data/School_Performance/Accountability_Research/Enrollment_Trends/?LangType=1033 https://tea.texas.gov/Reports_and_Data/School_Performance/Ac... [2] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372

rdxm 8y ago

what school district were you in? I've been here 20 years and my kids were very well served educationally.