A child's education is absolutely critical for their success in the future. One must have the intellectual skills to compete in the cut-throat job market we are faced with today in these tough economic times. But one must also have an understanding of the greater country's social diversity and the wealth of cultural resources an integrated community has to offer. Gail is absolutely right to stress the importance of diversity in Chicago's north suburban schools. As she points out, being educated in a multicultural environment is crucial to preparing your child for achievement in higher education institutions and the workplace. High academic test scores are not enough to foster the kind of "global citizen" New Trier likes to claim it creates. It's time for the North Shore to legitimately move toward positive social change and housing is a great place to start.

This is a well written article and I do agree that living in a nicer area gives a distinct educational advantage to children. However, I do not place much stock in placing people into communities just to give them this advantage. When you move people into areas outside their soical or economic comfort level without any sort of 'buy in' from them, you are asking for nothing but trouble. Two things I believe in, which are not generally practiced by housing agencies or their customers; Pride of ownership and Community invlovement. When you take a family out of a high crime/low income area and place them in a community like Glenview there needs to be some buy in from that family. It is high time that the responsibility for success be placed upon the recipients of the benefits, not on those of us that are providing the access and tools.

Having had my own children educated on the North Shore while I was teaching in the Chicago Public Schools gave me an unsettling view of the inequities of housing as well as schools. Gail Schechter's article does a great job of tying the housing and educational needs of residents together. I applaud her well-researched and thought out remarks. As for Paul Young's concerns that families from high crime/low income areas wouldn't thrive here because of lack of "buy in" I was taken aback. I can't imagine the families of the children I taught in Chicago failing to buy in to the opportunity to live in our community. They don't live here because they just can't afford it. I had a student a few years ago who wrote that if she could have 3 wishes the first would be to have a bed. I can't picture her family being unwilling to buy in to living in a safe community with good schools. Her family was poor but they wanted a good life for their children. Rather than having to go out and seek some diversity for my children when they were young, I would welcome some diversity of race and wealth to come and live among us.

correction on my last comment, my spelling was atrocious I meant to say 'Please' not 'plese'.

This is why we need school vouchers so kids aren't locked in to failing schools.

The disparity in SES in places like Evanston is what contributes to the inequalities and performance discrepancies. It has nothing to do with curriculum, honors, mixed honors, culturally-focused curriculum, faculty awareness training, etc. I can't imagine more diverse and culturally aware teachers and administration than in Evanston schools. And yet the issues persist. The NAACP has had a lot of input in Evanston schools for many years and we need to take back our community.

My husband and I moved to the Chicago area in 1989. Moving from Iowa, there was shock at how expensive it was to live in a metropolitan area, especially in communities on the North Shore. We ended up in Evanston. The community seemed like Chicago and we didn’t have to figure out which Chicago public schools were good. My children, grades K, 4 and 8, used to come home from King Lab School and say the classes were “so loud,” but they quickly got used to it. When my oldest daughter went away to school in Philadelphia, she said, “Mom, you know if you graduate from ETHS, you can go anyplace in the world and be confident that you can deal with anything.” That’s the biggest tribute I think that can be said for diversity, ethnic and socio-economic, and I think it brings wonderful benefits to the children in any community that makes it a priority.

While the article by Ms Schecter is well written and well intentioned, I think the social engineering that she espouses is exactly why the country is in a fiscal mess. I agree that property taxes are a lousy way to fund all schools, so let's find a better/fairer way to fund all of the states schools. Even if we equalized the per/student funds at each school in the state, the performance discrepancies would still exist. And for those that call for building and/or creating more low-income housing in the north shore, I would like them to volunteer their street as the first to participate in that experiment. Think your housing values are low now? The answer is not to "force feed" racial diversity into our neighborhoods (how did desegregation/busing work out a few decades ago??) but to fix the mess that is the Chicago Public School System. It will take more than money to cure their ills. My wife and I worked hard (and continue to work hard) to provide our children a nice home and a safe community, as well as teaching them the benefits of treating all people respectfully. We don't need people like Ms Schechter, and other idealists like her, imposing her views upon us. For those people who commented that they were glad that their children had such great experiences at Evanston and Skokie that is great. They made that decision for themselves and moved into those communities. My wife and I chose otherwise, and I'm tired of others trying to impose their values upon us.

GMF

Martha you are way too sensitive, but at least your were forthright enough to admit that you were 'offended'. I am glad that this discussion is happening because peopel like Lucy and Martha need to understand that there a lot of us that don't agree with social engineering. The idealistic refrain that I keep hearing from some people is basically give everyone everything whether they earned it or not. I subscribe to the belief that if you give someone something without making them work for it, then they won't appreciate it. I can't afford to live in Winnetka, should I get a voucher to live in a house there so I can send my kids to New Trier rather than Niles West? Will graduates of New Trier always do better than kids that graduated from Senn? Is someone from Mather going to fail for no other reason than they went to a Chicago Public School? I propose this, if you have someone pushing the kids in school and staying on top of them, then they will do better than the kids with the absentee adult figure no matter what school they attend. What gives people the right to demand money and housing for no other reason then they think they are owed it?

Hey everyone, We’re glad there’s such lively conversation going on about this topic. But I want to remind everyone that Patch’s Terms of Service states commenters should not be abusive or harass one another. Thank you!

Now that the Caucus survey has shown by majority "vote", that Winnetkans don't want to pay for housing entitlements as outlined and aggressively lobbied for by Schecter, she's pursuing racial "equality" and suggesting that our community has none.(laughable) The attempts to destroy Winnetka have failed. But she is undeterred with the support of those among us in Winnetka who would like to see our community turned inside out. Fortunately, those malcontents among us: bitter from divorce, cast aside for the younger/hotter model, personal failings and deep jealously are scant. The audacity of our community to have a higher per capita income/housing value/ IQ. We should be so ashamed of our success. The nerve of us!! Success rarely has anything to do w/ luck or zipcode. Time for Schecter, the social justice profiteeress, to take her diversity guilt trippin manifesto somewhere else.At the rate housing values are falling in Winnetka, Schecter might want to move on to more lucrative and receptive communities. If she practices what she preaches, then she'll hotstep it down to the South Side. I've heard they have a "diversity' problem too.

I am happy to see that I am not the only one that disagrees with the idea of social engineering and giving away something without any sort of buy in from the recipients. Very refreshing.

"I subscribe to the belief that if you give someone something without making them work for it, then they won't appreciate it." What child labor do north suburban kids engage in to be able to appreciate their quality education?

I may not speak for everyone here, but my children do yardwork, shovel snow and babysit for neighbors to earn spending money and to fund their extracurricular activities, as well as doing volunteer community service work. Unfortunately, they're not old enough to have "real" jobs. When they are, they will.

Winnetka/AS, please do not make assumptions about other posters - you don't know who anyone is unless they post their own names. We know who you are b/c you've posted so often and so many places that it's become obvious. I am not on the Caucus and never have been. But you keep believing and spreading your fiction. BTW, no one's criticizing your religion - it's your hypocrisy, your bullying, your juvenile attacks "BLAH BLAH BLABBITY BLAH", and your disregard for the truth.

Winnetka- you are just as you appear to be. That is, intolerant. prejudiced, and narrow-minded. We don't want any of "those" people moving into our neighborhood. We want everyone to look the same, act the same, and believe the same. Just like back in the good ole days before civil rights and all that stuff.

Where did I say that?

Not wanting to live around people full of hate is not bigotry. It's the opposite.

Winn/AS, I have no idea why you accuse others of being dangerous. No other posters talk that way. Calm down. You are the only one who sounds that angry. My impression is that most others feel sad for you. This is a discussion, not a war. Stop assuming others are as malicious as you seem to be.

Really nsmom/blackwidow/Jen/Gail? That is who/m you are. Right? Blackwidow's kill-do they not?? I do not believe you are a proponent for those in need. Your commentary is a bit too emotional and shows psychotic tendencies. You are obsessed w/ this AS person. I believe they are in danger. Your outlandish comments and suggestions are evocative of Laurie Dann. Please step away from the keyboard and seek professional intervention. Given your obvious state, I will no longer be commenting on this blog.

Yes, living on the North Shore is largely a matter of socioeconomic status. However, we settled where we did because we felt that our neighbors, regardless of net income, race, creed or nationality, had similar values: hard work, sacrificing to raise their children to be the best they can be, and a willingness to come over, sit on the patio with a beverage of choice, and shoot the wind on the first nice spring afternoon. I think that may be what Paul means by "buying in."

Greenwood, that may be how you feel, but I would hesitate to say everyone else feels that same way.

Sully is right again, and "quality control" is an interesting choice of words. Some want to avoid those who look different or have less, while others would rather not be around those w/an attitude of entitlement. The implication that those who work - and many who currently live - in Winnetka would not meet a "quality control" standard should be offensive to all of us, regardless of our income, house size, race, religion, etc.

"What is the best predictor of a student’s academic achievement?"

Concerned parents, a working cerebellum, interest and fascination with life, a broken television, hidden/non-working Xboxes, decent friends and a school curriculum which drops the mental garbage called "social philosophy" and other diversity nonsense and focuses on actual skills.

There is no one best predictor of academic achievement/success. There are factors that contribute, some more significant than others, but when looking at individuals, there are many variables that can influence achievement. Of course it helps to have fundamental needs met, such as being well fed, rested, clothed, etc. in order to achieve at a higher level.

Winnetka -
I didn't "flag" you, but do you realize that in one e-mail you used the words: kill, psychotic tendencies, obsessed, danger and "evocative of Laurie Dann." I don't even know who that is or what it means, but it seems severely angry.

I don't think anyone else posting is coming from the same dark place....seemed to me, at least in the beginning, it was a simple, spirited discussion based on the original essay.

"Inclusive Schools, Inclusive Community" was a great title for an article that elicted a lot of emotional response, but mostly from those outside of Morton Grove! Since this is the MORTON GROVE patch, it would be nice if the editors here could work a littler harder to make this a truly "local" site; which was their stated goal when they launced a year ago. I'm sure they're working on it and hope they find a solutions soon for us and others in different towns as we have enough "regional" news from other sources. For those reading this outside our borders, did everyone know our village of Morton Grove is ethnically diverse, holds inter-faith services and has a village commission that works to make all feel informed and has fair housing? We've heard much negative from our neighbors to the east, how about we start to hear some positives (along with more truly local stories for each Patch.com site)? Thanks for reading all.

Not really interested in an ongoing debate with Mr. Kent (nor anyone else), so will simply state that "in my opinion" maintaining a better balance between local and regional issues here should be more of a priority of this site especially since it claimed to be a new source of local news when it first entered the market a year ago (and under the first editor Carrie Porter it was able to be true to that goal). Maybe some of the articles placed in a variety of local PATCH areas shouldn't be? And yes, I am aware of their placement policy, but simply do not agree with it. For instance, I recall reading many posts about the 10th Congressional District, but ALL of Morton Grove is in the 9th, why?

Perhaps part of the problem lies with the fact that the Morton Grove Patch has not had a true editor since Carrie Porter was "promoted" to the Winnetka Patch.

There is also an apparent propensity for certain persons to hijack threads, (I remember this happening with the 10th district thread as well). Combine this with snarkey comments by some posters who display ignorance while believing they are being clever and you have sown the seeds for the failure of the publication.

It has become an unfortunate fact that many times it is difficult to differentiate the Patch from the Jerry Springer show.

Martha, the comment about the NAACP was not mine nor do I know who wrote that. So I do take offense to having my posts 'flagged' by you as offensive. If you were indeed referring to some other poster, fine, but next time make sure that you are flaming the right guy. I take the time to explain my points of view and don't need to be called offensive or have someone telling me that they are 'taken aback' because my views are opposing. The great thing about the 1st Amendment is that we are allowed to speak our minds so again, I come back to my original problem which is that some of the posters wish to attack those that do not support the article author's point of view. By the way, thanks for getting my back Greenwood.

The 5th ward is right to want a neighborhood school. Integration in the 70s, continuing until today, was well-intentioned just as is Ms. Schecter. But it did not work to raise and equalize all children. Why would we have any outside organization, whether religious or political, trying to influence our schools as much as the NAACP has? Would we want significant input from B'nai B'rith or the Catholic Church, no matter how noble their mission? Along those lines, children with a first language other than English learn academic subjects best in the first language. Why would we work against what has been proven in research just to be seen as inclusive in programs like TWI? Well-intentioned but not the best for the children.

We've only lived here in HP for 18 yrs or so but I still find it amusing when I hear neighbors speak of the "diversity" and "open-minded" set here. I grew up in a rural college town with students from Tunisia to Cambodia and everywhere in between. This didn't guarantee integration or acceptance but I credit my parents (WASPy, practically off the Mayflower types) with raising our family to view others based on how they act, not their physical or economic situation. How rare this attitude seems to be in the world today.