Conservative suburbs (Chicago, Cicero, Orland Park: middle-class, low crime, credit)

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by promis1

Although Chicago is known to be more liberal than the suburbs, we have learned from this past presisential election, that many suburbs are no longer conservative. Where can I still find a clean, conservative suburb within 45 minutes of the city? Is Elmhurst more conservative than liberal. Did Elmhurst favor Obama or Mccain in the election. What about Itasca or even Elmwood Park? Please respond.

Had a college professor that used to say that the south-west suburbs (Frankfort, Mokena, Orland and Tinley Park, Homer Glen, Palos Park, Hills, and Heights)were like Wonder Bread to her reminding her of the movie Pleasantville and now I understand what she meant. They're white, sleepy hollows, where people live in a bubble and everything is all cheery and there's no such thing as blacks, mexicans, gays, atheists, jews, street/homeless people, people who struggle to live paycheck to paycheck, and a recession? Where? Ever see Orland Square Mall or the restaurants in town on a Friday or Saturday night? Its like everyone just won the lottery. Its the norm down here to hand over mom and dad's credit card to the kids and just say have fun, sending the kids to join the hundreds of other lil' brats over at Orland Square Mall to crowd everything up so the kids can just buy whatever they want down here and go on about what a bunch of A Holes their parents are and how they didn't get the Ferrari or Porche they wanted for Christmas. Yes these are things I hear when I'm at the mall. Golly gee I love going there.

And who did the residents of the town vote for? HMMMM who do you think? Lets just say that my neighbor was ballsy enough to put out an Obama '08 sign and that sucker disappeared, was shredded, was throw into the street, on his roof, under his car, shredded again, graffited, etc. So he must have either been a great repair man or he had a garage full of those things cause a new one was always put out there to replace the damaged one that would get mysteriously damaged in the middle of the nights. So who do you suppose the majority of the town voted for?

You want conservative, rich republicans, head to Orland and Palos Park. Please excuse me as I barf from all this as I have to live here and writing this reminds me on how much I hate it here.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by NYrules

Lets just say that my neighbor was ballsy enough to put out an Obama '08 sign and that sucker disappeared, was shredded, was throw into the street, on his roof, under his car, shredded again, graffited, etc. So he must have either been a great repair man or he had a garage full of those things cause a new one was always put out there to replace the damaged one that would get mysteriously damaged in the middle of the nights.

Wow, that is pretty hateful. Hopefully it was just teenagers.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Wow, that is pretty hateful. Hopefully it was just teenagers.

IDK... it was almost getting comical to wake up and see what the sign would have gone through overnight. It would be like, "was it tortured, dismembered, murdered, or kidnapped last night?" LOL

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by Prairie

I have lived in Elmhurst for over 30 years and I've seen many changes to the community. The biggest difference was when Starbucks opened and the town turned yuppie. Many former downtown young families looking for an excellent school system and small town community have taken residence.

This has been covered before. Elmhurst's schools are good - a little above the suburban average according to the college/work readiness benchmarks of their high school students (where the rubber meets the road, so to speak). Elmhurst's York High School adequately prepares 30% of their students compared to the suburban average of 27%. That's not considered excellent.

The pervasive misperception that Elmhurst's schools are better than they actually are is part of what's keeping them from attaining excellence. Elmhurst Parents and community members aren't insisting on curricular and academic improvement from their schools because they have overestimated the academic strength of their schools. And, hey, if Billy and Susie are getting mostly A's - no one is going to rock the boat. They just continue on fully buying into their comfortable misperception.

That may sound more harsh than it was intended, but it's frustrating to see a community whose children have so much potential settle for a just above average school system. That said, a lot of Elmhurst families send their kids to parochial schools. Is that because of religious reasons/family tradition? Or do those families think that the parochial schools offer a better education than Elmhurst's public schools?

[boogex]

I don't know where some of the people on here get their information from. The Chicago metro is a big place. Even if you've lived here 60 years, that still doesn't make you an expert on every suburb and every neighborhood in Chicago. It all depends on the places you've had the most experience with.

DuPage county in general is much more conservative than Cook county and even some of the other surrounding suburbs (McHenry, Lake, etc). If you're conservative and want to live around other conservatives, you can't really go wrong in DuPage. The towns within DuPage are similar, but each has their unique characteristics.

You asked about Elmhurst. I have some experience with that town, and I'm quite comfortable calling it very conservative. I know a lot of conservatives that live there. Heck, I even overheard a guy in a restaurant yelling at his daughter for saying she liked Bill Clinton. I would rank Elmhurst among the most conservative towns in Chicagoland.

[promis1]

Originally Posted by NYrules

Had a college professor that used to say that the south-west suburbs (Frankfort, Mokena, Orland and Tinley Park, Homer Glen, Palos Park, Hills, and Heights)were like Wonder Bread to her reminding her of the movie Pleasantville and now I understand what she meant. They're white, sleepy hollows, where people live in a bubble and everything is all cheery and there's no such thing as blacks, mexicans, gays, atheists, jews, street/homeless people, people who struggle to live paycheck to paycheck, and a recession? Where? Ever see Orland Square Mall or the restaurants in town on a Friday or Saturday night? Its like everyone just won the lottery. Its the norm down here to hand over mom and dad's credit card to the kids and just say have fun, sending the kids to join the hundreds of other lil' brats over at Orland Square Mall to crowd everything up so the kids can just buy whatever they want down here and go on about what a bunch of A Holes their parents are and how they didn't get the Ferrari or Porche they wanted for Christmas. Yes these are things I hear when I'm at the mall. Golly gee I love going there.

And who did the residents of the town vote for? HMMMM who do you think? Lets just say that my neighbor was ballsy enough to put out an Obama '08 sign and that sucker disappeared, was shredded, was throw into the street, on his roof, under his car, shredded again, graffited, etc. So he must have either been a great repair man or he had a garage full of those things cause a new one was always put out there to replace the damaged one that would get mysteriously damaged in the middle of the nights. So who do you suppose the majority of the town voted for?

You want conservative, rich republicans, head to Orland and Palos Park. Please excuse me as I barf from all this as I have to live here and writing this reminds me on how much I hate it here.

Orland Park sounds like Heaven to me.

[Prairie]

Originally Posted by InformedConsent

This has been covered before. Elmhurst's schools are good - a little above the suburban average according to the college/work readiness benchmarks of their high school students (where the rubber meets the road, so to speak). Elmhurst's York High School adequately prepares 30% of their students compared to the suburban average of 27%. That's not considered excellent.

The pervasive misperception that Elmhurst's schools are better than they actually are is part of what's keeping them from attaining excellence. Elmhurst Parents and community members aren't insisting on curricular and academic improvement from their schools because they have overestimated the academic strength of their schools. And, hey, if Billy and Susie are getting mostly A's - no one is going to rock the boat. They just continue on fully buying into their comfortable misperception.

That may sound more harsh than it was intended, but it's frustrating to see a community whose children have so much potential settle for a just above average school system. That said, a lot of Elmhurst families send their kids to parochial schools. Is that because of religious reasons/family tradition? Or do those families think that the parochial schools offer a better education than Elmhurst's public schools?

I disagree with your comments. The parochial schools cannot compete with the advantages of the public school system.

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by promis1

Orland Park sounds like Heaven to me.

You spend a lot of time on this board race-baiting and avoiding questions put to you. I know folks out in Orland who are completely different so maybe it is not the place for you.

[promis1]

Originally Posted by Manigault

You spend a lot of time on this board race-baiting and avoiding questions put to you. I know folks out in Orland who are completely different so maybe it is not the place for you.

I am not race baiting-just simply stating realities. The problem is that so many liberals are not realistic-they have an idea of how the world should be- a utopia where everyone loves each other. The truth is I as a white male cannot even walk in many inner city, black areas without being robbed or jumped because I am white. So I am looking for my safehaven.

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by Prairie

I disagree with your comments. The parochial schools cannot compete with the advantages of the public school system.

It is true that the public school system has more financial resources, but they seem to be underachieving academically given the demographics of the school district (very favorable - small percantages of low-income and LEP students) and their students' goals for the future.

It is an indisputable fact that York High School in Elmhurst adequately prepares only 30% of their students for first year college courses according to ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, which are quite low. You can see them here; look in the ACT Score column:
http://www.act.org/research/policyma...benchmarks.pdf

The Elmhurst school district has that information. I doubt they have voluntarily shared that information with parents and community members, though, because it is quite appalling given the fact that 92% of York students plan on attending college after high school graduation.

York's 30% readiness level is only slightly above the suburban average of 27%. The truly excellent high schools in the Chicago area have college readiness percentages in the 50s - Naperville 203's schools, Stevenson, etc.

There are other measures of excellence in which Elmhurst's high school fails to appear, as well.

It's not in the Illinois top 50:
http://www.suntimes.com/images/cds/pdf/top50high-2008.pdf (broken link)

...and not among the 71 Illinois high schools in the US News Best High schools ranking:
Best High Schools Search - US News and World Report

Elmhurst's parents and community members should demand/expect more from their schools for their children. As seen in the lists above, other suburbs' school districts provide an excellent education in their public school system. Some of those districts have more challenging demographics and are still outperforming Elmhurst's schools.

The Elmhurst community can't fix the problems contributing to their high school's underperformance unless the community admits that their schools are not as academically rigorous as they should be.

Colleges and employers are aware that academic weakness is an all too common problem in school districts in the suburbs and the rest of the state. More here:
Daily Herald | Chapter 10: Only 1 in 5 high school graduates are ready for college