This may seem an obvious point...

[Anonymous]

Product of FCPS system here - Oakton high school graduate. Quality of my education was pretty mediocre.

My dad, an immigrant, came from a country where algebra was taught in 5th grade. He was more of a math teacher to me than any math teacher I had, the vast majority of whom didn't teach why mathematical formulae worked, rather they assigned a ton of problems with the goal of drilling the formulas in your head. Similarly, when it came to literature, I learned more from my own reading than from school.

A large majority of my high school class ended up at lower tier public colleges schools like Radford, ODU, JMU, etc. A small number, maybe 5% ended up in elite colleges. The median graduate of my FCPS high school is an Radford beer pong grad that is now an assistant manager at Hertz car rentals. I'm not sure if I had gone to, say, Wilson, whether the college choices among like racial and economic peers would've been much different.

Regardless of where you or your kid goes to school, there is a need to supplement the education in public schools. If you rely on schools for your kid's education, whether you're poor, middle class, etc., your kid will very likely be mediocre.

One thing that I hear often from suburban school boosters is better physical security at suburban schools. As a non-white brown kid, I had to deal with a number of bullies in my life and all of them were white. So not sure my brown kid will have it much better in suburbia than he will in the city. Dealing with some degree of bullying builds strength of character --- not necessarily a bad thing. Too much and I'm pulling my kid out of whatever school he/she is in.

The more I've thought about it, the obsession with being in a suburban public school is cover for avoiding minorities and having to subject their white snowflake to a non-Eurocentric world. The world is becoming less and less Eurocentric so I'm not sure I think the suburban school experience is valuable in and off itself.

Main draw of suburbs for schools is the existence of magnets for us. Too soon to know whether our kids are magnet material, but if they are then that might change our plans but for now no suburbs and 2 hour+ commutes (less time to be with our kids) for us.