patrick.net

chip_designer says

if outside work, don't want to mingle together. Talking about the techie/mgmt parents kid with a janitor/gardener/car mechanic parents kids.

Dude, you are hilarious. You are making remarks in jest to parody some over-the-top-snobbery and elitist attitudes.

Fact of the matter is, whether you choose to believe it or not, is that I am a techie (though I don't need to boast about it in my handle), my partner is in finance and we and our kids mingle with all types, all of the time. But we are Americans (one of us, an Asian-looking American), fully assimilated into American society and comfortable in our shoes.

Our oldest kid got accepted a couple of years ago to all of the UC's except Berkeley and UCLA, although some of her classmates from our non-Fortress high school did wind up in those places, also a handful went to the Ivies and Stanford. So her non-Fortress high school did not hold her back. She had all kinds of friends from all kinds of backgrounds, as did her friends at those elite universities.

Hey BACAH,

NO STANFORD NO RESPECT! WHY YOUR CHILD CONSTANT DISAPPOINTMENT?!

bimmerman,

Stanford and the other Elites are best deferred for grad school. And in grad school, some majors provide the support for the full time students.

Of all the whining we hear about of those grad school student loan burdens, except for medicine it's only for majors that don't add productive value.

Some of majors like MBA are even anti-productive to our civilization.

No Stanford no respect! This is price you pay for living in poor neighborhood with lazy gwailo parents. Without high API school no prestigious university will accept! Good luck to become doctor or lawyer, the only respectable professions.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Some of majors like MBA are even anti-productive to our civilization.

Amen to that!

chip_designer says

i bet most people who complain of the crazyness around fortress real estate, don't have kids going to high school.

I have more than a few friends who went to Cupertino/Sunnyvale HS, and now their kids are going to the same schools. They too dont understand the crazyness around the fortress RE. So whats changed in the HS or Cupertino what would have warrented such higher prices...

Take it from people who been around here and seen it all...

there isnt anything .. nada..zer0... i dont know whats inside these peoples mind for them to rush and push prices 2-3x higher vs pre-bubble mid 90s prices...

B.A.C.A.H. says

my partner is in finance and we and our kids mingle with all types, all of the time

my god, people really misunderstand others, and add mistake on top of other comments.

I mingle too with my gardener, with grocery bagger , with the contractor bidding on my project, just so I can get a good deal or to not sound cold. I don't want people to hate me.

But do you invite them for dinner at your house? or how about going to a golf range together?

thomas.wong1986 says

I have more than a few friends who went to Cupertino/Sunnyvale HS, and now their kids are going to the same schools. They too dont understand the crazyness around the fortress RE. So whats changed in the HS or Cupertino what would have warrented such higher prices...

your frienthomas.wong1986 says

there isnt anything .. nada..zer0... i dont know whats inside these peoples mind for them to rush and push prices 2-3x higher vs pre-bubble mid 90s prices...

thomas.wong1986 says

Take it from people who been around here and seen it all...

there isnt anything .. nada..zer0... i dont know whats inside these peoples mind for them to rush and push prices 2-3x higher vs pre-bubble mid 90s prices...

You didn't meet or talk to a real chinese or indian who bought a 1 million+ home (in the past 5 years) in saratoga, cupertino

by word of mouth, these people think there must be something very beneficial to kids going to these schools, and therefore warranted to buy a house in there, no matter how expensive it is.

and you did not see anything, nada , zero?

and you are chinese. I am surprised by your comment.

chip_designer says

my god, people really misunderstand others, and add mistake on top of other comments.

I mingle too with my gardener, with grocery bagger , with the contractor bidding on my project, just so I can get a good deal or to not sound cold. I don't want people to hate me.

But do you invite them for dinner at your house? or how about going to a golf range together?

Its you who is misunderstanding. By your definition that is not mingling. That is business, not friendship.

I actually do have friends in the blue collar field, my kickboxing/mma partner is also my mechanic.. (a good mechanic is like GOLD, esp if you have some semi-legal performance modifications in your car, LOL)
There are a few guys in my group of friends that don't make a whole lot of money (social worker)

Yes most of my friends are in the tech industry, just because start of friendships typically start out in school/universities. however, some of my friends came from dirt poor backgrounds, while others have parents who makes Romney's fortune look like pocket change (we didn't know until much later because he was so laid back and modest). Family economic background should not determine friendships. I would not think for one second if my kids wanted to befriend a good hardworking kid who's parents are gardeners or plumbers.

chip_designer says

by word of mouth, these people think there must be something very beneficial to kids going to these schools, and therefore warranted to buy a house in there, no matter how expensive it is.

herd mentality. Sheep. baaahhh. actually more like lemmings "all my friends are doing it, I guess I should too"

Actually most of them have been around for a long time, brought when Cupertino was just middle class. They worked hard to save up the money, rose up though the ranks, and maybe made some money on stocks...

chip_designer says

and you are chinese. I am surprised by your comment.

No im not chinese... BA has had asian, latino, and whites for a long long time. Cupertino is no different. An east Asian or East Coast American who bought $1M home is a FOOL. What exactly can you say has changed in the school since I or anyone of my friends graduated in the 70s-80s. And no dont say computers.. we had the back then !

chip_designer says

You didn't meet or talk to a real chinese or indian who bought a 1 million+ home (in the past 5 years) in saratoga, cupertino

plenty.. and they get a real dose of reality after 1 hour... many of these people were not even aware of places like Silicon valley before year 2000. Even worse they are clueless on how the economic engine works around here. $1M home in SV dont work...

all you have is hype today.. and schools are part of that hype..

Why get so worked up over people willing to pay $1M for a 3/2 tract house?
If it is so stupid, well they will end up financially ruined, right?

Some of you guys want the world to go back to the nice, comfortable days of 1980’s when the Russians self imploded and the Chinese behaved like good coolies and Indians were mud people that didn’t know shit about software and japan were just like short mericans that can build good cars but of no threat otherwise.
The world has become way more competitive and will be more so in the future.

I don’t think it is bad to overfocus on a good education. The alternative is much worse. I would even go as far as to state that much of the usa’s dysfunctionality is due to her people’s failure to master simple math and lack of knowledge of scientific methods to problem solving. Of course, we in patnet are not like that, it is the other 95% behind the tree that are the problem.

thomas.wong1986 says

No im not chinese...

i see, but thomas.wong is chinese name, but not you. Its just an alias, you pretend to confuse people right? :)

Serpentor says

herd mentality. Sheep. baaahhh. actually more like lemmings "all my friends are doing it, I guess I should too"

yes, we all know that, it is human nature. Just look at the iphone phenomenon.

don't you have one too?

chip_designer says

Just look at the iphone phenomenon.

don't you have one too?

It's the cult of Apple!

thomas.wong1986 says

schools are part of that hype..

see this story just came out today, you don't have to read the whole thing, the title says it all:

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_20840660/east-san-jose-parents-assail-intolerable-middle-schools

so if you are a parent who can afford things, then you will know why cupertino houses are prized.

chip_designer says

Serpentor says

herd mentality. Sheep. baaahhh. actually more like lemmings "all my friends are doing it, I guess I should too"

yes, we all know that, it is human nature. Just look at the iphone phenomenon.

don't you have one too?

nope. Android for me. Iphones are nice, but I really love my android phone (widgets, Built in Navigation, Flash, Bigger screen, 4G internet, inexpensive removable batteries & MicroSD cards)

chip_designer says

thomas.wong1986 says

schools are part of that hype..

see this story just came out today, you don't have to read the whole thing, the title says it all:

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_20840660/east-san-jose-parents-assail-intolerable-middle-schools

so if you are a parent who can afford things, then you will know why cupertino houses are prized.

right. because there are only choice between the ghettos and over priced fortresses. LOL

with all the emphasis on their kids learning math and science. It really shows that the parents are the ones that need to learn math. LOL

Serpentor says

right. because there are only choice between the ghettos and over priced fortresses. LOL

Shhh ! Do you really want them and their kids, with those values, spilling over out of The Fortress schools into where our kids goto?

Call it Crazy says

kt1652 says

I would even go as far as to state that much of the usa’s dysfunctionality is due to her people’s failure to master simple math and lack of knowledge of scientific methods to problem solving. Of course, we in patnet are not like that, it is the other 95% behind the tree that are the problem.

And over paying for a house in a "good" school district will change that??

How do you know this is too much house payment for these folks?
Because they don’t have golf club memberships, expensive cars, jet set vacations?
What if they are happy to live within a comfortable commute for their jobs or businesses and good schools are very important to them?

Maybe some of them just have more money than you realize because they don’t spend it on frivolous ways. Some of them have parents that lived self imposed life of frugality and they actually have money set aside to help their children. It is not suffering for them, sacrifice yes, but worthwhile in their value system.
But like I said, if people are so stupid and way overpaid, assuming these are not the old timers that bought in 1982. They will suffer financially.
Lets go back to 1982, when my class mate bought a house in SJ for 210K. It was really really expensive then too and BTW his parents funded his downpayment.

As far as how living in a good schools helps advance math and science skills.
I know for a fact, in statistical terms, going to a low achievement school will lower thier test scores in a significant sample size if all other factors are unchanged.
Lets not be so simple minded to think this one swatch of SV can be representative of the entire usa. How the general society behaves is way too complex and beyond a paragraph but I will tell you it is probably represented by a bell curve. There will be outliers on the tails who will be considered abnormal. It could be these school score buyers are on the extreme end, trying their very best to give their children the best odds possible within their influence. Now if the entire usa society were compelled to achieve magnitude order of educational achievement, lets say in math and science, then the entire bell curve would shift. But in order for that to happen, there has to be a way to measure progress. How do you do measure it?

kt1652 says

good schools

Because you are making the confusion API = "good schools". No. API = "good test takers", or maybe even "good teaching to the test".

B.A.C.A.H. says

Because you are making the confusion API = "good schools". No. API = "good test takers", or maybe even "good teaching to the test".

Pretty much. Almost any system can be "gamed."

Serpentor says

with all the emphasis on their kids learning math and science. It really shows that the parents are the ones that need to learn math. LOL

I wonder why every flicking car dealer I ever went to ask me "How much payment can you afford each month?"
My wife who has a ms in computer was also hounded relentessly on how much car can she afford each month?
She told me, "I just want them to tell me how much is the car going cost but they just kept pushing for the monthly payment."

Do you know why they do that?
Because it works, people just end up buying on monthly payments. Seems to me this is representative of the general ignorance of simple, compounding math issue.

Math and science give you understanding of trends and rate of change and a whole bunch of other things like noise and probability. If you don't see how these skills would help us flush out charlatans politicians that promise us solutions that are not mathematically viable.
Remember, it is easy to solve a small problem early if you know it will compound into a huge future time bomb.
Do we have any problems like that?

So enlighten me on how you would measure school achievement.

B.A.C.A.H. says

kt1652 says

good schools

Because you are making the confusion API = "good schools". No. API = "good test takers", or maybe even "good teaching to the test".

You choose your words well, young jedi, "school achievement". Schools achieve API's.

Students achieve results. Students like East San Jose grad Jerry Yang.

kt1652 says

How do you know this is too much house payment for these folks?
Because they don’t have golf club memberships, expensive cars, jet set vacations?
What if they are happy to live within a comfortable commute for their jobs or businesses and good schools are very important to them?

Maybe some of them just have more money than you realize because they don’t spend it on frivolous ways. Some of them have parents that lived self imposed life of frugality and they actually have money set aside to help their children. It is not suffering for them, sacrifice yes, but worthwhile in their value system.
But like I said, if people are so stupid and way overpaid, assuming these are not the old timers that bought in 1982. They will suffer financially.
Lets go back to 1982, when my class mate bought a house in SJ for 210K. It was really really expensive then too and BTW his parents funded his downpayment

I don't doubt many fortress residents have money. In fact, I've been saying that that exact same thing (long time immigrants residents that saved and worked hard are sitting pretty with low property tax) versus the urban legend of the mystical commie Chinese money. However, any recent buyers who bought in Cupertino thinking that it will buy success for their kids are just pissing their money away. They could have done just as well and saved a couple hundred grand buying in Sunnyvale, campbell or Willow Glenn

Not just Communist money. Also, elites from places like Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangalore, Mumbai. Places like that.

So how do you propose to measure scholastic results?

B.A.C.A.H. says

You choose your words well, young jedi, "school achievement". Schools achieve API's.

Students achieve results. Students like East San Jose grad Jerry Yang.

Serpentor says

any recent buyers who bought in Cupertino thinking that it will buy success for their kids are just pissing their money away. They could have done just as well and saved a couple hundred grand buying in Sunnyvale, campbell or Willow Glenn

Maybe true. But , specially chinese , they are very stubborn. Once they set their mind in cupertino, there is no going back in thinking.

chip_designer says

i see, but thomas.wong is chinese name, but not you. Its just an alias, you pretend to confuse people right? :)

whats in a login name anyway ? what meaning must it have ... like vanity plates maybe !

chip_designer says

Maybe true. But , specially chinese , they are very stubborn. Once they set their mind in cupertino, there is no going back in thinking.

LOL! Asians in Cupertino isnt new. For a east coast person.. they may seem to have come off the boat. No they been around. Perhaps prices should of skyrocketed in decades past before the recent bubble we had. Why didnt that happen.. were they less stubborn then vs now ?

B.A.C.A.H. says

Serpentor says

right. because there are only choice between the ghettos and over priced fortresses. LOL

Shhh ! Do you really want them and their kids, with those values, s
pilling over out of The Fortress schools into where our kids goto?

sure, more geek kids for my kids to beat up. LOL J/K

B.A.C.A.H. says

Not just Communist money. Also, elites from places like Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangalore, Mumbai. Places like that.

When one has mega bucks.. South Bay seems not so attractive for any elites international or domestic. If it was ever attractive one would have expected all the glamor hollywood types to have moved here over the decades just to be next to Cupertino school.. but as you see not even the Hollywood types make a home in SF Bay Area...

Brangelina running around Palo Alto ? not going to happen.

demming taught the japanese car makers how to measure and improve their manufacturing and make no mistake the japanese built upon that to a perfectionist artform.
Any system is flawed, but does that mean it is useless?

wthrfrk80 says

B.A.C.A.H. says

Because you are making the confusion API = "good schools". No. API = "good test takers", or maybe even "good teaching to the test".

Pretty much. Almost any system can be "gamed."

B.A.C.A.H. says

Not just Communist money. Also, elites from places like Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangalore, Mumbai. Places like that.

absolutely absurd. For a million dollars, the "Elites" can pay for tuition to the top private schools in the US many times over.

Trinity School: Ivy/MIT/Stanford pipeline: 41% Location: New York, N.Y.
Horace Mann:Ivy/MIT/Stanford pipeline: 36% Location: Bronx, N.Y.
Phillips Academy Andover: Ivy/MIT/Stanford pipeline: 33% Location: Andover, Mass.
The Brearley School:Ivy/MIT/Stanford pipeline: 37% Location: New York, N.Y.

top public schools:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings
where's Cupertino?

California:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/rankings
Gasp! Monta Vista is ranked all the way down to #17! for CA and #97 for US!

and Cupertino High is all the way down in the #97 for CA and #496 for US

Asian dad says Number one school or GTFO!

That is easily one of my favorite meme image macros.

Serpentor says

top public schools:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings
where's Cupertino?
California:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/rankings
Gasp! Monta Vista is ranked all the way down to #17! for CA and #97 for US!
and Cupertino High is all the way down in the #97 for CA and #496 for US

Serpenter, you are using an academic performance index/ranking to illustrate how foolish it is for others to use an academic performance index (test scores) as a (one of many btw) house purchase decision metrics.
ie. cupertino is not ranked that high on USnews.
Do you chase your tail much?
The folks that have unlimited resources to move anywhere in the country to get into the very best (your criteria) hs probably don’t know where Cupertino is. Get real.
"Asian dad says Number one school or GTFO"-straw man.

E-man says

Serpentor,

How many times have you complained about this topic in recent years? LOL! People vote with their pocket book, and they have spoken. Let it be. I don't disagree with your points. But as usual, I'd have to side with kt1652 and SFace. :)

Learn from your victory. Prosper from your failure.

yep. People voted with their pocketbooks with Zynga stock back in the day too. This is a housing bubble forum is it not? what else are we going to talk about? how cheap Stockton home prices are? no shit. LOL

I keep bringing this topic up because its amusing to me, especially how people think somehow Crapertino is the center of the universe.