>>Our schools "suck" because democrats have run the show. The county schools "suck" much less, because most of that school board is Republican, and I think they still administer behavior modification to young citizens.<g> Gee, I shore do wish I wuz one of them smart northern type folkses, lak you is.
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>I can't speak for Tamar but I honestly don't think north and south has anything to do with it. It's really rich and poor. As you know, Tamar lives in a community that is very far removed socioeconomically from inner city Memphis. Of course the schools are better! Any fool could guess that. If we were comparing the schools in the nicer Memphis suburbs to inner city Philly we would be having the exact same discussion, only in reverse.
Well, yes and no. I'm a product of the Philadelphia public schools, as are many of the people I know. It is still possible to get a good education there, but you would have to know how to work the system.
Also, while I live in the suburbs, it's a first-ring suburb (two sides of my township border the city) and it's pretty socio-economically diverse. School population is about 40% non-white, and this township runs the gamut from working class to wealthy.
This is a little out-of-date, but from the 2000 census:
http://censtats.census.gov/data/PA/0604209112968.pdfTamar
