Some days I feel like I am BARELY surviving the ‘burbs but I am doing it. My husband and I both grew up in Metro West Boston and left for college (and me for my first job) and then returned.
Before we met he lived in the city and I lived in the ‘burbs. My job was even further out than where I lived so I lived in between work and play (the city). When we moved together he joined me in the ‘burbs because I owned a house in Framingham and he was sick of living in the city.
First we had one dog, then two dogs and then two dogs and a baby and that house that I built for myself 9 years earlier got real small, real fast. So we had to make a decision where to settle. The location had to be somewhere we wanted live for next 30+ years. A Forever home
And so we decided to stay in Framingham. It was a very conscious decision for the education we wanted to provide our daughter. We want her to go to school where there is a lot of diversity, it was a part of our education that we didn’t have and it is important to us that she has that experience and knows that not everyone is the same.
Why Framingham?
We both grew up in towns in this area with little to no diversity. In fact, the towns we grew up in had a program called the METCO program. Because there was so little diversity in our towns, the METCO program brought diversity to the towns from Boston.
A lot of people have asked us why we stayed in Framingham because the ‘schools are not good’. Honestly, we could have chosen from probably 20 different towns and cities when taking into account location to work and budget.
We live in Massachusetts, arguably the best state in the country for pre-college education and Framingham is ranked in the top 1/3 of the state. That is pretty darn good if you ask me.
BUT if you want to go solely of rankings you should know rankings are often based on test scores. Because Framingham is so diverse, English isn’t always the first language for every student. Which means that standardized test scores might not be as high. And therefore they aren’t ranked as high.
There is more to education than a grade on a test or a school ranking. You can learn a lot about life at school and to us that is just as important.
Both my husband and I had great childhoods and educations. I am not putting down any of the schools in this area. For us, it was the right decision to stay where we are. It may not workout, it may not be the right town or education system for her. We can always address that if it happens. But for now we are happy to be in the ‘burbs.