<p>mtcbear: I wouldn’t use Montclair H.S., either. It’s adequate, but nothing great. I’m glad your boys are doing well at St. Benedict’s. Living in Newark is an entirely different matter. Your boys can come home every day to a lovely suburban town surrounded by friends and family. The OP’s d doesn’t have that luxury. Rutgers Newark can be a pretty depressing place.</p>
<p>My prejudices about Newark are grounded in fact & personal experience, ranging from the riots up until the present day. I attended Rutgers, NJIT, and UMDNJ at various times. I’ve worked there and have to handle business there from time to time. I attend the PAC, Bears games, and make occasional outings for Portugese food. So I don’t let my fear paralyze me, just keep me alert. I wouldn’t want my kids attending college there, because the commuter nature of the school amd the other challenges Newark presents don’t make for an idyllic college experience.</p>
<p>You’re right, newark doesn’t provide the idyllic college experience(nor does New Brunswick), and I don’t think anyone who goes to school there expects that. Not everyone can afford the $40,000 per year price tags of private colleges. My oldest is in an expensive private college only because of substantial merit aid; otherwise he would be in the honors program at one of the rutgers. One must be alert while in any major city, day or night. Newark is what it is. Booker will improve things, I believe; but I also think things will get worse before they get better.</p>
<p>And in response to garland, I work in a suburban hospital…we see all the same problems as the city hospitals in Newark, perhaps not in the same numbers, but they’re there. Suburban residents want to believe that there is a protective bubble in their neighborhoods that protects them from the kinds of crime that happens in the big bad city. There’s a lot that happens in Montclair and Upper Montclair that never reaches the papers.</p>
<p>I know…read my last line! (and actually, it did reach the papers! Montclair Times and Star ledger, both).</p>