CITY PAPER: Why We Live In The Suburbs, or, Why We Don't Live In Philly

CP Editor Brian Howard writes:

We're thrilled to introduce you to Amy Z. Quinn, aka the blogger Citizen Mom. She'll bring her mix of "democracy and domesticity" to our pages starting ... now. Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, her column for us will be a compliment to her popular blog (quinnchannel.typepad.com), not a compendium of it. Don't believe me? Check her debut column. Why does she live in the suburbs? Better schools. Is she ashamed? No way.

By Amy Z. Quinn

Exactly 73 steps separate the front door of my family home in Manayunk from the Philadelphia public school across the street. James Dobson Elementary, built in 1929, consumes the entire block between Hermitage and Wright streets, off Umbria, its concrete schoolyard serving as the unofficial backyard of a neighborhood with few real backyards to speak of. It's where I learned to roller skate and to ride a bike, where I jumped double dutch (not well) and, later, sneaked cigarettes and kissed boys in the long shadows cast by its heavy iron fencing.

What I never did there was attend a class. In 36 years of life, 22 spent growing up on Dobson's doorstep — close enough that its squawking afternoon dismissal bell would wake a napping baby — I've never gone into the building beyond the auditorium that serves as the local polling place, or the claustrophobic basement gymnasium where my nephews played floor hockey. My parents sent their six kids to one of the local parochial schools — and let's not pretend it was just for the religious instruction.

When my husband, young son and I were moving back to the Philadelphia area from Central Jersey a few years ago, not once did we seriously consider moving into the city itself. Like many couples we know, we moved to the suburbs specifically so we could send our child to public school there. In fact it's probably fair to say we pointedly and unapologetically avoided the city of Philadelphia. You want to know why? Let's start with two words: persistently dangerous.

READ THE REST HERE, AT CITYPAPER.NET!

Comments

[Bill-Old City]

Please continue to perpetuate the misconceptions and bad rep of the Philly school system...it'll help keep away the close-minded parents who don't believe in the learning opportunity that a diverse classroom setting provides. Our 5th grade daughter has a much broader view of the world and the entirety of the people who populate it based on her experiences in the Philly school district. To squander that chance by enrolling her in a homogenized school would have been unacceptable to our family. Sure, the district has it's issues (which district doesn't?), but there are some gems there. You just need to look for them a little. The trade-off is small and the rewards are great.