The Philadelphia Citizen

You may remember a viral article 15 years ago, shortly after Sex & The City ended, in which women were told to marry men who were “good enough.” In the piece, author Lori Gottlieb proclaimed that women should stop holding out for Mr. Right (like the women on SATC), and instead marry Mr. Good Enough. While Gottlieb’s thinking about marriage feels especially dated in this spring of polyamory and modern love, I have been thinking about applying Gottlieb’s general thesis — don’t shoot for perfection; go for good enough — when it comes to public schools.

I was recently at a small, retreat-ish conference where another attendee came from the Philadelphia area. I asked her where she lived, and she replied, “Bryn Mawr. For the schools.” She might not have even said “For the” part; she might have just said “the schools,” or “You know, the schools.” The point was: That people live in certain towns for the schools is unquestioned, passed down from generation to the next like received wisdom. But why?

Later, in a car ride back from a hike with other conference attendees, public schools came up again. I explained how “the schools” comment bothered me and said something like I wished that people would worry less about the quality of public schools and just send their kids to their neighborhood school.

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