I’m sorry, I was merely taking my experiences as reasons, generally speaking, for considering city life for a child.
I can probably be of help with regard to public schools in the city. I’m Chicagoan born and bred; raised in Logan Square in the '80s and '90s before it became a hipster mecca and now live in Irving Park. I attended a gifted public school program and now have two children in CPS selective enrollment programs – one’s a senior in high school and one just started kindergarten.
The thing about public schools is that it can be a crapshoot, and you have to know your odds going in. And, things can change rapidly – the process to get my son into a selective high school has changed significantly in just the last couple of years. Assuming you’ll have your children tested for selective enrollment, you have to know what your tier is – that is, the socio-economic rating that your family gets based on where you live, right down to the block. (Race is no longer a factor.) The higher your socio-economic tier, the closer to perfect your kids need to be to get into the competitive schools. In my estimation, the SE schools are on par with private schools and are competitive with the Latin School and the Lab Schools academically, but they don’t have access to the same financial resources schools like Latin and Lab have. (Oh, and the magnet system is 100% lottery. They’re good, but not great, schools, and many specialize in an area of learning, like LaSalle Language Academies.)
That said, if you find the right neighborhood where the community supports a school financially, even their neighborhood program is on par with suburban schools. For instance: Bell, where my older child used to attend the neighborhood program. They have a selective program too, but the neighborhood program was good enough that we pulled him from a magnet school that he was bussed to and put him in Bell, since it was a block away from our apartment. Inclusion in the Bell school district is a selling point for homes in the district – in fact, not long after we moved there, a bunch of development in the district stretched their resources severely. They were intense about fundraising while our son was there and I imagine it’s only gotten ramped up since then, but you know, it’s still cheaper than private school and for a liberal douche like me it’s nice to know that the money I give is also helping out some less-privileged kids. We could afford to send our kids to private school, and if we hadn’t been able to get our daughter into an SE kindergarten, we would have considered it. But the idea of having my children socialize exclusively with mostly white, upper-middle-class and wealthy kids makes me want to barf in my desk drawer. The tier system, whatever its shortcomings, does do a good job of creating some level of racial and social diversity while maintaining high academic rigor.
To me, the stakes are a lot higher at the high school level – there are fewer good non-selective high schools, and the chances of your kid getting mixed up with assholes increases exponentially, as do the potential consequences. Again, the elite SE high schools really are brain factories, but if your kid doesn’t get into them, it’s a long way down to the neighborhood school. Some neighborhood schools are working on that, but it’ll be a few years at best before I’d call them acceptable academically for your average kid. The average suburban high school does a better job than the average city high school on both education and discipline fronts.
Just saw your last question about yards. I am an avid gardener, so a big yard (big for the city at least) was absolutely essential for me when we were house hunting. The house I grew up in had a big yard, too, and my sisters and I spent a lot of time playing in it.
It’s tough in the more central/eastern neighborhoods (LP, OT, GC) to find a house with more than a postage-stamp yard, though I find people sort of adopt their neighborhood’s public spaces as a yard, and it’s a nice way to get to know your neighbors. The only problem is that you can’t just shoo your younger kids outside in those neighborhoods because they tend to have a lot of car traffic. That’s the main place a back yard comes in handy with regard to kids.
One thing you can say for Chicago, we have a fantastic park district program. My kids have done swim, dance, gymnastics, sports, afterschool, all that shit at CPD parks and it’s by and large been great.
some great comments here. We’re in LP but started looking at the North Shore this weekend. Our son is only six months but we know we have to move as we’re not interested in shelling out 25k (net) for private school and I have no idea how bright he will or will not be. We’re also hoping for more kids so space is an issue.
I make a very good living but even I am having a hard time swallowing paying
1.5M for a house in LP. Yes I know there are other areas but frankly I don’t wnat to live in them (save manybe Lakeview or North Central). And even if I did, the school issue rears its head again.
So as much as it pains me, I may have to move to the suburbs. I’m depressed just writing this.
Lochdale, moving to the North Shore isn’t going to save you on housing costs, unless half of my co-workers make a whole lot less money than I think they do. I know you said you don’t want to look at other areas, but Lincoln Square, Ravenswood Manor, Beverly, Old Irving Park, Norwood Park, Mayfair, Edison Park, Sauganash, I could go on – they’re all really great neighborhoods with room to grow, amenities, and good schools. The city’s what you make it.
The suburbs are definitely the answer for some people, but if you’re a real city person, it just might eat your soul. I lived in suburb of Boston for two years and there wasn’t a day I didn’t want to pack it all up and get the fuck out of there. And only about 20% of that was that the East Coast is not my home.
It doesn’t matter where you buy your dream house, what matters is the type of parent you are, how much freedom will you LET your kids have if you live in the city vs the suburbs. If you’re a helicopter parent and would never let a 9 year old take a bus, or walk more than a few blocks from home, have to know every minuet where they are at, then the city probably isn’t for you. In that case it might be better for you and your children if you went to the suburbs, if you worried less and gave them more freedom.
In my town I regularly see 1st and 2nd graders walking to school, and from my house that’s about a 3/4 of a mile away. They walk just about every day (unless it’s stupid cold). There are days when I don’t see my son until 6 or 7 pm because he was at a friends house, no he doesn’t call and no I don’t worry the much after 7 I’ll start calling around. I have friends who’s kids are gone all day on the weekends, true they live out in the country and their kids ride horses all day, but they have the freedom to be a kid.
So where would your children have the most freedom to be a kid, and then you’ll have the answer to your question.
Thanks everyone for the additional thoughts.
Really the more I think about this, the more I like Evanston (where we currently are). Lochdale, have you been to Evanston? 
Just today I discovered NU’s Center for Talent Development, which has great programs for gifted kids.
I’m one of those people who believes kids raised in the city grow up to be smarter, thicker-skinned, and more independent than pussies from the suburbs. The downside is they might grow up to be liberal douches. 
Some great comments here.
I know Evanston very well and it’s a great place. An excellent downtown and some great schools. The downside is that you have a very poor (and dangerous) part in and around Howard and a University that doesn’t pay any property taxes which hurts the property tax base.
Fortunately we can afford t a nice home but I’m not comfortable paying 25K (net) per year for a private school in the city. Now I agree you can live in more reasonable parts of the city and pay for private school but that can get very tough with commuting etc.
It’s a tough one but I think Winnetka or Wilmette is our likely option. YMMV as I know people who think the suburbs are just awful.
The two things that kill the Ws for me is that it’s not possible to walk to all that much and the longer commute. But I do really like the triangle in Wilmette between the Metra, Gilson Park, and the El–I could see us moving there some day if we decide that the walkable stuff there is fine. And New Trier just can’t be beat–if we stay in Evanston there’s a decent chance we go private for at least high school–the current board seems intent on fucking up ETHS.
I do understand the crime issue in Evanston, but I go through the area you are talking about either at 50 MPH (on the metra) or with just a brief stop in a somewhat controlled environment (on the El), so it’s not really a problem. And it’s hard to find any place in Chicagoland without knuckleheads fairly close by.
That’s not the problem of the 'burbs; that’s just the problem with the kid. There’s nothing in a suburb that demands you ride on the sidewalk. During the parts of my childhood in which I was living in the 'burbs, I rode on the sidewalk only when the turf was too soft from recent rain, and the streets were particularly busy.
What you’re talking about is neighborhood. That’s not exclusive to the inner city. Again, 'burbs, military housing, city core, even the sticks… they can have “neighborhoodness” if the participants want it. After all, for all your much-vaunted “diversity of experience”, you probably never watched warplanes take off 20 feet above your head, or went pheasant hunting or snowmobiling on your buddy’s dad’s back 40.
Experiences are out there no matter where you live. My childhood was rich and fascinating, and only a small part of it was ever spent in the city core.
You’re misattributing cause. You could have been a sparkling personality with a rich and vibrant childhood even if you had grown up in the most white-bread cookie-cutter burb in the world. Or you could have been a dull fenced-in blinkered soul growing up in the middle of the most alive and interesting city center in the world.
People are people. Nurture can’t meaningfully outweigh nature. Turtles hide in their own shells.
Come to Oak Park! We’ve got diversity coming out our asses!
My block alone has 5 mixed race couples, a Lesbian couple, A banker, a law professor, a University of Chicago economics lecturer, a car salesman, a truck driver, a cop, an elementary school teacher, a masseuse, and a handful of engineers - and we all get along great.
We’re a stones throw from the city and accessible by both the Blue and Green line and we have busses that’ll get you anywhere you want to go.
PLUS we have all the big parks and backyards of the suburbs with all the crime of the city! Well OK, that part might not be so great but where else outside of the city can you have dinner in a very nice restaurant and get panhandled on your way back to the car?!
Two thoughts:
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I’m a city guy (Austin as a kid, Ravenswood now) but I did live in Oak Park for several years in high school and in Evanston while in college (three years in a two-flat). These are the two most urban suburbs in the Chicago area, not just in the sense of having sidewalks but also a lot of things to do within walking distance (in some parts of town at least). Evanston when I lived there (mid-70s) was pretty dull but is considerably livelier now, particularly in the downtown area; my impression is that the same is true of Oak Park. Wilmette is pretty (and has sidewalks and some nice shops) but is MUCH quieter. If Wilmette works for you nonetheless - and I’m not trying to give you a hard time - you’re not really looking for urban buzz and will be better off in a close-in suburb. (Sounds like you’re pretty well off, but if you want to look at some reasonably priced alternatives to the North Shore you might try old railroad suburbs like Lagrange, which has a nice little downtown.) The attraction of the city, for those who like it, is the urban edge - it’s busier, noisier, always changing. To be blunt, this is a minority taste. The city is more hassle in some respects; from a strictly practical perspective, the suburbs make more sense for most people. Remember, I say this as a city guy. Likewise, if you asked advice about being a writer - and I’m a writer - I’d say there are a million easier ways to make a living.
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FWIW, my kids had a blast growing up in the city, got excellent (and free) educations at Chicago public high schools (two selective enrollment, one IB), and being a city kid is worth 100,000 coolness points when you’re in college surrounded by suburbanites. Just saying.
I grew up in Hyde Park in the '80s, and did all of the city kid things mentioned - walked to school many blocks by myself or with friends as early as 4th grade, rode CTA to take classes at the Art Institute, bummed around the museum of Science and Industry on random Tuesday afternoons instead of doing my homework. But I’m now raising my kids in the suburbs-fading-to-country outside of San Francisco and I love it here. I do find it funny/troubling how they gape at the big buildings and get excited to ride the bus when we go into the city but I’m certain that I’ve chosen the right lifestyle for my family.
We are just more country folk than city folk. The school they attend is excellent and they have friends from school here on our cul-de-sac. They play right in the street, ride bikes to the park, go the library and have all of the free-range and independence I did as a kid only without the crackheads and homeless but with more greenery and fresh air. They don’t have the Art Institute and the museums which I do regret. (Of course San Francisco doesn’t have such amazing museums in comparison to Chicago anyway…)
Have you considered doing school tours, and seeing what kind of schools they’d be going to and using that as a data point for your decision? I went to magnet schools in Chicago and to prep school in the east and still when I moved here and toured their now school it was as if scales were lifted from my eyes. Like I’d never seen a nice school before. Their school is gorgeous, excited motivated teachers, extra activities and events coming out their ears, free busing, and organic/local menu for their school lunch.
Zoid–Evanston has all that plus a lake and a college to keep fresh blood coming in.
I think I mentioned this up thread, but after our big re-think, my wife and I have pretty much decided we made the right decision the first time and Evanston is still the place for us (for many of the reasons Ed mentions). I’ll be due for another big re-think in 4-5 years, so I’ll be sure to bump this thread then.
On suburban schools: I can’t speak for all of them, but I grew up in Evanston and attended 4 different schools there (Lincoln very briefly, until Mom threw a hissy-fit and pulled me out because I was told I was spending “too much time” reading; King Lab - the “old” King Lab, when it was only K-5; Nichols; and then ETHS).
Be careful generalizing about the quality of schools, particularly ETHS, which is freaking huge; my sister and I attended most of the same schools, and only 2 years apart, but she and I got very different educations. I was in honors/AP classes and graduated in the top 5%; she, well, wasn’t and didn’t. We also didn’t exactly hang with the same crowd or get involved in the same activities. Evanston schools, to a large extent, are what you make of them; yes, I graduated quite some time ago (ETHS Class of '86), but I have plenty of friends with kids in the district now.
Also, you know what might happen if you raise kids in Evanston? They just might turn out to be progressives!
P.S. I may have been a suburban kid, but I survived NYU just fine for college, and have survived living in Chicago just fine for most of the interim. I attribute this to parents who raised me to be self-sufficient, and to having access to public transportation and not being chauffeured around everywhere.
P.P.S. Evanston is another place where you can go out to a nice restaurant and get panhandled after dinner.
Thanks Eva Luna. Really the only reason I was thinking of leaving Evansont was because of some recent dumbass policies at ETHS, but I agree that it really is what you make of it, and we are 10 years away from ETHS anyway. There are plenty of good private schools to bolt to at that point as well.
Also, I hope my kids are progressives (as in progressing toward fiscal conservatism and away from the destructive fiscal liberalism that we have been pushed toward lately).