bostonbubble.com

[New in NE]

Thanks CL

Looks like you are happy with your purchase and the town. I did move around in last couple of weeks in Lexington. Rt2 and 195 both goes through the town and there are many houses around it. On the top of that most of the streets like Mass Ave, Waltham st, marrett rd, Bedford st, Woburn, Lowell, concerd ave run through the town has good traffic. So over all most of the houses do have some traffic noise. There are some properties which are in good neighbourhood and on quite area but they are all 1M+. This is what I am experiencing.
Where did you bought CL?

[CL]

I bought a single family house on a nice quiet street, and yes I am very happy with the purchase and the town.

Regarding road noise, you really need to be in that spot to discern the level of the noise. Different part of a main street (Concord Ave and Marrett Road comes to mind) can be very different in terms of noise and traffic level.

[Former Arlingtonian]

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/12-Ledge-St-Needham-MA-02494/57477144_zpid/

[admin]

[Former Arlingtonian]

We have a friend who has a Phd in Education and has done a ton of research on what are the correlations for high achieving academic children.

#1 determinate is the education level reach by the mother -

Nothing else matters - this researcher looked at a variety of school districts and public and private.

Smart Mom's who got advanced degrees produce high achieving students!

Just a thought.

[admin]

That's correlation, not causation. I know some personal counterexamples to the assertion that nothing else matters - perhaps nothing else correlates.

I was getting at a different point, though. I don't think that academic achievement is the ultimate goal. Happiness is more important, followed by life achievement (and I expect academic achievement correlates with that to some extent). To respond to your subject line, no you don't need Lexington schools. But I strongly suspect that a bad school would have a negative impact. A correlation to mom's education may not reflect that at all because you aren't going to find many (if any) PhD moms at bad schools. Lexington would seem to address the concern about avoiding a bad school, but it's hardly the only option, so I would agree with your point that it's not necessary.

- admin

[CL]

My oldest kid will enter K this year so I will have direct experience soon. Lexington is a very high achieving school district, and in all likelihood, an academic demanding (albeit from schoolwork or teachers or simply peer pressure) school. So very likely a "pressure cooker".

My view is, however, I would rather put my kids to be a in pressured and demanding school than a more laid back school while fully prepare to help them deal with the pressure. I think life itself is full of pressure - maybe not consistently, but everyone has to learn to deal with high pressure situation one way or the other. At least in a school setting it is somewhat controlled environment. Learning how to deal with high pressure is an essential skill to help the kids in their pursuit of happiness in the future, whichever path they want to choose.

So in short, I don't see a school being a "pressure cooker" as an automatic bad thing. Putting the kids in a pressure cooker without helping them learn how to de-stress is bad, not putting the kids in a pressure cooker simply to ensure their short-term happiness is probably not good either. As with many things in life, the answer is more than a simple choice.

[admin]

Thanks for the feedback. My concern wasn't so much with actual pressure, so that may not been the best choice of words on my part (though I was quoting someone else). You make a good point that kids will need to deal with pressure in real life too. My concern was that academics were routinely an all consuming part of life there for kids, crowding out the opportunity for kids to learn to thrive on their own, in an independent, unstructured environment. In other words, I don't think that creativity and creative problem solving skills are the focus of or well cultivated by modern education, and I think these skill will grow in importance over the coming decades as more and more jobs which people can be taught to do become jobs that computers and robots can also be taught to do. So it's not the pressure itself that I'm concerned with but the possibility that the pressure will crowd out other important learning as a side effect.

- admin

[CL]

Admin - good point. That part (whether academic demand will crowd out independent pursuit) I have no experience or insight. I do suggest you call/send an email to Lexington Public School to inquire. My experience dealing with Lexington town/school official is that unlike other Metro West towns, they actually answer phones and reply voice message and email quite promptly.

[Former Arlingtonian]

A. I think there is so much we know don't know about how children learn.

B. For example, I have a child who is a standout tennis player. Putting the child under super pressure didn't create the skills - letting the child have fun explore their interest and use some natural gifts seems to be the secret.

We have a child who is an outstanding reader and devours books. Mother read to the child every day since birth, the child reads subjects he enjoys, has a very advance vocabulary.

I'm struck by what an absurd construct academic institutions are because a high performing student has to be high performing at all subjects to he a high achiever. In life, people with real talent aren't always equally gifted in all subjects. I know brilliant programmers/math folks who struggle with expressing themselves in words.

Why are Lexington School officials so responsive?
They want Taxpayers to OK any and all property tax over rides and the more the regular folks are convinced that the value of real estate in LEX is determined by the quality of schools the tax payers will be milked for every penny!

Question- If the school system of Lexington collapsed tomorrow or all teachers quit to take higher paying private sector jobs (there aren't any better deals than being a Lex teacher) and every family found themselves sending their children off to other schools the result would be:
(A) Formerly high performing students would become failures
(B) Lexington School drop out rate would sky rocket
(C) No result in the futures of any children who a have families focused on education and nurturing children.
(D) Crime rate in Lexington soars as a result of derelict children no longer attending school.

[Former Arlingtonian]

CL,

Lexington finances - spending machine....

Frugality and towns with sound budgets no longer exist.

Budget is found here....School employee base grows and retirees on health care grows, spending grows and grows....

ci.lexington.ma.us/FY2013_Brown_Book.pdf

[balor123]

I had been very pro-good-schools up until recently. Now that I've finally gotten them, I'm not so sure that it's that important. My parents both attended public or mediocre schools in 3rd world countries. I have cousins who are still there and the kids are very smart. I didn't attend top schools but I was friends with lots who did.

It seems to me that the schools need to be good enough and past that parents become much more important. Parents who are struggling to get by because they paid at the top of their budget for top schools are probably not going to be able to provide the level of attention necessary to really inspire ambition and teach life's lessons that really get you ahead later on.

That's not to say that everyone should aim for Framingham. If you have the money and it's very comfortable for you, then fine go for Newton or Lexington. Otherwise, Arlington or even Waltham (select schools) will probably be good enough. Brookline might be special not so much because the schools are fantastic but also because the area is very enriching otherwise.

[admin]

[balor123]

From my experience it seems to be 6-7. That's what the schools I went to are ranked now. There were some lower class people but from good families.

Just a guess but I would look at the extracurricular activities. Do they have math/science/debate and how does it look like they perform? I hadn't gotten to the point of testing that approach. This is for high school mostly of course. I get the impression that good elementary schools aren't hard to find.

Another strategy to consider is to ask teachers. We asked around our network and got a few opinions about different schools/districts.

You can also ask on city-data forums. An area we looked at had a middle school that my Realtor called "in the hood". Its ranked 6 and has two magnet schools on campus. A number of people who went there posted that it's a good school (one who is a doctor). Apparently ASID was busing in students and that lowered the scores.

As to how schools change over time, there's definite risk there. My philosophy so far has been that if you buy a place then buy one that's big enough that you could live there for a long time but not so big that you are banking on it. I clearly have not followed my philosophy here!

[CL]

Balor123 - I do agree parental involvement trumps the quality of school (especially from good to great) and for kids thriving great schools are not really a pre-requisite.

And I have a soft spot for Brookline. If I have $2m to spend I will be living there right now.