Pensacola 16th Worst City In America to Raise Children

http://pensacolad3.blogspot.com/2017/09/pensacola-16th-worst-city-in-america-to.html

Friday, September 15, 2017

Today, MSN had an article ranking Pensacola the 16th WORST CITY IN AMERICA TO RAISE KIDS.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/parenting/worst-cities-to-raise-children/ss-AAr2UCU?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=SL5KDHP#image=11

In a country as large and diverse as the United States, not all areas are equal when it comes to raising children. While the number of factors that can affect a child's development is seemingly limitless, there are a few core measures related to safety, school district quality, and amenities that can make all the difference between one area and another. And in some parts of the country, children are at a considerable disadvantage.

24/7 Wall St. created an index to identify the 25 worst U.S. metro areas in which to raise a child. All but two cities on this list are located in the either the western or southern United States.

The ideal city in which to raise children should be safe and have quality schools and plenty of recreational amenities. Only metro areas with some combination of high violent crime rates, low preschool enrollment rates, low high school graduation rates, and limited access to parks and recreation centers made this list.

Relatively violent cities with fewer amenities and worse educational outcomes also often tend to be relatively poor. In 21 of the 25 cities on this list, the child poverty rate is higher than the 20.7% U.S. rate.

Serious financial hardship is likely partially the result of poor economic conditions. As of June 2017, the unemployment rate was higher than the 4.4% U.S. jobless rate in 18 of the 25 cities on this list.
Likely due in part to the low desirability of many of the cities on this list, home values in these areas are relatively low. In 21 of the 25 cities on this list, the median home value is less than the typical American home value of $194,500.

The Upside Indeed!!!

Makes Gulf Breeze more desirable for kids. A+ schools, huge sports associatuons for kids and a low crime rate.

I don't think pre-school rates should be included in those stats. I'm not convinced yet that pre-school is such great idea for kids. Yeah, it's great for their parents because mom and dad no longer have to pay for baby-sitting after the age of 4 (and there are SOME 3 year olds in pre-schools, believe it or not.)

The kids who are in pre-school now will never remember a time in their lives that they were not in some school situation. I personally don't think it's the ideal way for kids to be raised. I don't think it makes for as independent of human being for them to have always been in a structured setting when they were kids. And a lot of these kids go from pre-school directly into summer school in June, or into some summer program that's also detrimental to independent growth.

I drove babies to school for years and years, and I'm still not convinced it was for their own good. I know this though, their parents happiest time of day was when they put them on my bus and got rid of them for the day.

Pre school is great.

Pre school is great.


Studies agree. The economic realities of the entire panhandle make it very difficult for some young families to give their children the requisite skills needed to succeed in school. I have looked at ACT scores over the last Decade and argued what are called great schools in other parts of the nation would be called average. My wife graduated from a rural small school system which had great success but an objective analysis of nation wide test scores suburban and wealthy school district out perform many fold over so called great schools in other states and her great school in rural Illinois. It is simple economics, but a poor kid in preschool gets a huge boost to compete against more wealthy students who have great learning environments.