In Calgary the schools are actually worse in the suburbs in that there are no schools in the suburbs since the city allowed development without the money to build schools (or forcing developers to build schools). So kids in those areas get bused around. Only now has this shortfall been recently made up, and only to a point.
As well there is not nearly as much inequality in the public school system because the province (state) pays for schools not the city so there is a more even distribution of funding for schools. Living in a poorer area does not automatically translate into poorer schools. So according to this model the entire state of Maryland would pay for the upkeep of Edward Tilghman Middle School in West Baltimore, not just the city of Baltimore.

Federal transfer payments among the provinces make sure funding is fairly equal among the provinces rich or poor, though this also for all government services not just education.

We do have private schools in Calgary and the seperate Catholic School system, but both systems use public funding. I do not have particularly in depth knowledge on the student bodies of the various charter schools (what we call private schools in Calgary) but there is much less pressure on middle-class parents here to find good schools in Calgary. In general the public system has not been as roughly handled here as in the states, which I would attribute to decoupling their operations from local funding.

I’ll give a perspective from up North. I live in Calgary, AB, Canada, a city of about 1 million people. In 2007, we had 26 homicides and 49 traffic fatalities [depending on whose stats you go with]. The locations of the homicides are shown on this map: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/maps/2007homicides.html Unfortunately, I don’t have a map of the traffic fatalities, but from what I know they are almost all outside of the downtown core. My take on those numbers is: stay away from the ‘burbs [most murders and traffic deaths happen there].

I don’t believe that living close to downtown Calgary is a dicey proposition. Traffic is slow and low, everybody sees everything that goes on at street level, the neighbors gossip and I don’t have to worry when I walk to the pub in the evening. There’s almost always people around. I get a bit creeped out when I’m in the ‘burbs – it’s like walking through a ghost town or something. The houses are dark, there are no streetsigns [not that they would help - damn fractal road layouts] and no police. ‘Tis spooky. Oh, and forget riding a bike in those areas. Minivans and SUVs everywhere…

I don’t see the issue with the schools either. There are two highly-regarded private schools, plus 4 of the best public schools in the city within walking distance of my house. The schools in the outlying areas tend to be much newer and shiny, but chronically overpopulated.

Probably the last thing is think about cul-de-saks, winding roads and communting a few extra miles each day. You think, I gotta get out of here becuase even though I can put up with all of these minor irritations I’m afraid that one day something more serious is going to impact my family. And each time a good family like this leaves the city the percentage of victims (those wronged and those doing wrong) increases to the point where those remainig are in a survival mode where like Jack Bauer rules don’t matter.
If your are an eight year old kid and everyone in your neighborhood that’s doing well is selling drugs, ripping people off or working for or with a gang what the heck will you most likely decide to do? Especially while your dad’s in jail and not around and your mother is working her rear end off on two jobs that don’t pay beans. You work like crazy to obtain a “get out of town” pass.
The single biggest four problems today are: drugs, family, education & wages.
Everyone wants to get guns off the street while drugs are the single biggest factor ripping apart society.
Divorce, lack of morality & jail keep creating children without fathers. Society needs a father figure to guide and control. And my hats goes off to every mother and grandmother that’s alone doing the job of two.
If you don’t get an education you beocme a victim to all that I have described.
Finally wages. Who the heck can prosper on eight bucks an hour. Nobody. After taxes that’s $1,000 per month. At that rate you are stuck in the city. In some cheap run down room, with no car, no health insurance living week to week. No wonder we have problems.

Anyway, my point is the suburbs are no educational nirvana. YMMV.

1. I had a feeling someone would comment on the class segregation line and perhaps I should have been more clear in my delivery. I did not mean that rural living is a form of class segregation and I am certainly not grouping the trailer park denizens of my home town with the McMansion dwellers two miles away. I was specifically talking about the suburbia of sprawling production house neighborhoods, turned in on themselves with cul-de-sacs and “road to nowhere” loops. I am making a comparison between the increasing isolation of those neighborhoods and the sort of extreme class segregation we see in the walled compounds and communities of Brazil or South Africa. The extremity of appearance differs but the mentality seems the same. Ah, the things we are willing to create in the name of safety.

2. I believe the car danger argument remains relevant despite your own anecdotal experience. I would be willing to bet that the UVA study conducted anywhere in the US would yield similar results. Cities are safer than suburbs and rural areas when one combines car fatalities and homicides. The further and more often you drive, the greater the likelihood of accident. Suburban and rural individuals drive further and more often. So much further and more often that the perceived “dangerousness” of city driving habits does not close the accident gap.

3. I think you point out an important concern here. Car ownership is a very American ideal. Philly seems to have a particular fascination with machines. However, ownership in the city is actually decreasing as are the number of miles driven. This is a result of a number of factors, including car sharing (though they are apt to claim it’s all their doing), revitalization of neighborhoods, more in-city job opportunity, higher gas prices (however temporarily), the troubled economy and an influx of individuals intent on embracing car-lessness as a benefit of urban living. Even prior to this decrease, people in urban areas owned fewer cars than their suburban counter parts. They have foregone car ownership though I agree . . . not necessarily because they wanted to.

4. This, as with Grant’s education comment, is probably another post as it doesn’t involve safety specifically. I will say for now that I think some sacrifice in this area is inevitable. As energy prices and food costs increase (and they will) the rewards for density will outweigh the desire for quiet. However, knowing this we are in a position to plan new neighborhoods and urbanized centers that make density and walkability more comfortable. I honestly believe that such a thing is possible and hope some individuals like you stick around to help us achieve it.

Also I think the argument about how dangerous cars are has little, if any relevance to suburban life vs city life. In my personal experience I never came close to getting in an accident while living in the suburbs, not once. Since moving to cities (NYC, DC, Philly) I’ve come close to an automobile accident (as a driver, passenger, pedestrian, biker) at least once a month. Based off my personal experiences people drive far more dangerously in cities than they do in rural areas. In regards to the UVA study which was done long after I’ve left I will concede that the roads where I grew up are far more dangerous now than they used to be. The roads are incredibly over crowded all over northern VA. Poor planning, combined with insane population growth is to blame.

As for the environmental/energy impact I doubt the amount of cars in this country will ever change much so the real problem is one of better standards, etc. (which is a whole other topic). This is America and people like their cars, or their 7 cars for that matter. My neighbor, who is a single mom living with her daughter, has 3 cars. My best friend, who is single and lives alone, has 3 cars. Take a trip to South Philly west of Broad St. and you’ll see that people double park (legally) because they have so many cars in that area. Just because a person lives in the city, doesn’t necessarily mean they care to take use of the walk-ability they have at their doorstep. People are not going to forego car ownership and thus decrease the danger that comes with it simply because they live in the city.

As for reasons to flee the city in favor of the suburbs there is a simple one that I think you’re just over looking. Sometimes people just get sick of living on top of each other. City life is hectic, it’s crowded, it’s loud, and it’s definitely not for everyone. Currently I love living in the city, but I’m not going to pretend that I’m not going to end up back in the suburbs at some point in the future (far future). It comes down to space more than anything I think. Right now I’m content with my 900sf home on a tight South Philly block. But that feeling won’t last forever I know, and there is little if anything the city can do to provide me with more “space”.

Grant – Education is, without question, a huge concern. It is something that worries me regularly. However, it may be an entire other blog post to even introduce the topic which is why I skirted it in this effort.

I will say that the educational issue is linked directly to income levels. Poor rural schools suffer from many of the same issues as poor urban schools. This is not simply related to the funding the school itself receives. The home life of its students, the general desperation level of the community and the attendant lack of hope or vision that is tied to poverty play a role in the overall educational environment.

I could go on about this at length. It is something I have studied in my student past and taken an interest in after as a teacher and friend of teachers. But, as I said, that is probably another post.