KIngwood

Kingwood is a large masterplanned community about 20 minutes north of Houston. Kingwood is also referred to as "the livable forest", "the unlivable forest", "the Smokable forest", and "the bubble". The best reference would be "the bubble". Young people, as well as Kingwood residents seem to have no knowledge of how the world generally operates. Kingwood residents tend to be transfers from upper middle class backgrounds throughout the country. Rarely, is someone who lives in Kingwood actually from Houston, and even more rarely are they from Kingwood. In all my travels I can honestly say that I have never been to a place like Kingwood. On first inspection, all must admitt that it truly is the American dream. However, reality soon hits in for those just passing through and you come to the realization that its all a facad. Kingwood tries to preach inclusion but anything other than a WASP is looked upon with suspicious eyes. Most young people in Kingwood have a truly screwed up mentality, and view themselves as being entitled without even knowing it. First and foremost, to have any degree of success in Kingwood schools you must be white or Asian. The most undesirable secret about Kingwood is that most people are not rich! Yes, there are a large number a very wealthy people in Kingwood but they are the vocal minority. Unfortunately this transfers through the school system. Kids from "Royal Shores", "Deer Ridge Estates" are given this since of entitlement by the system itself. Its not enough to say that you live in "Kingspoint Village". I actually had a student who was 8 years old tell me that he lived in "the Cove of Kingspoint village". I asked another teacher what that was supposed to mean. The teacher told me that was "the old money of Kingspoint village". Huh? Kingspoint Village is only 20 years old. The teacher quickly informed me that "movers and shakers live in the Cove of Kingspoint village". So I quickly learned that their are actually high-end subdivisions within this allready high end subdivision. Attend primary school in college sweatshirts as if they are seniors in high school. They arent old enough to know what state "Stanford University" is in. However, they are allready committed to going there because thats where daddy went to school. I have never in my life seen an area where a State certified University is almost considered an insult to the parents of students. On the other hand, Kingwood parents do tend to be very involved with their children. Sometimes to involved. I have had students who were 8 that were in soccer on tuesday and thursday. Karate on Tuesday nights, tennis on Friday evening, golf on Monday and Wednesday afternoon. These kids are jam packed with activities, and yet some of them say their is nothing to do! Parents dont think twice about telling you they rich and expect the best for their children. In teacher conferences I have been told hundreds of times how rich the family is and that their children WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. It is not appropriate for you 8 year old to bring $100.00 bill to school for lunch. Your childs backpack cost more than my entire wardrobe. It is not appropriate for your child to have intimate knowledge of what his parents drive, what it cost to drive it, and determine his friends in class based on what their parents drive. Some people drive a honda minivan because they like it. Not because its all they can afford. It is unreasonable for your 8 year old children to know that you paid 16K in property taxes last year and its not fair that "renters" in Kingwood get the same education for free. 8 year old girls should not know that a BMW 325 is not really a BMW because its the cheapest one they sell. Kingwood really is like no other place I have been. They say that the groups in Kingwood are formed when they are young, and even within the secondary and high school the children from these areas tend to stay together and isolate the kids from what they consider "poor villages". They also say that the new addition of Kingwood Park HS is going to make it worse because the bounderies appeared to have been drawn in a dark room at the country club. Meant only to further isolate the wealthy and extremely wealthy students from the meager middle class. Property values in Kingwood continue to climb in areas that were chosen to stay in Kingwood High school despite the economy. Most of the movement is actually from Kingwood residents themselves who have moved and paid premium for homes so that their child can stay in the right school. In all my years of teaching I have never met so many 8 years olds suspicious of the motives of new kids. It should not matter to anyone weather their kids friends live in a production home (the kiss of social death in Kingwood) or a custom built home. Teach your kids to say "thank you" when someone opens the door for them. I am not paid by the school district to open doors for your children. Your children should be opening the door for me, as I am older than them. I in turn, well tell them "thank you" and comment on how kind they are. You have created a beautiful home for your children and deliberately placed them in an area that provides them with countless opportunities that 90% of the children in North America will never have. Stress that your children respect that, and appreciate that. Tell them every day how blessed they are to have it all, because even the kids in the middle class range in Kingwood have so much more than most. Take your children for a drive north to Splendora, Cleveland, Shepherd and show them that this is how most of America lives. They are so blessed and dont even realize it.