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[Essayons]

This is off-topic but I thought it may be of interest since it is about our high schools:

It was with interest that I clicked on a link today to a Newsweek article “The 100 Best High Schools in America.” Since I had attended a private high school, which has a great academic reputation, I was curious to see how it faired in the listings.

Well, it did not make the list nor did any other private high school. So much for the truth of the article’s title!

The opening line of the article should have given me a clue as to what would follow: The Goal: Never has high school had to do so much for so many. I believe that is a statement, and of nebulous value, and not a goal.

The 100 Best High Schools in America
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7761678/site/newsweek/

The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7723397/site/newsweek/

Nowhere in the main body of the article (first link above) was there any criteria mentioned which would inform a reader that the Newsweek list of 1,000 high schools was NOT inclusive of some of the best public schools in the nation. Only at the very end of the second link above, where the meaning of (*) is defined does one find the following:
* Gave IB tests. AP and IB participation rates are indicators of a school’s efforts to get students to excel and prepare for college. Newsweek excluded schools with strict academic admissions criteria that prohibit motivated, average students from attending.

Since the article does not include the best public schools due to their academic requirements and also did not include private schools, of what value is the article? Possibly someone closer to academia can help me understand.

Regards,
Dick
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Essayons - Let us try - the code of the Army Engineer. Sappers First, the code of the Combat Engineer.

[Stevie]

I think it means the top 100 schools that have finally managed to infiltrate every subject with communist propaganda in such a way that neither parents nor teachers realized it.
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Stevie
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage
morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should
be arrested, exiled or hanged.

[docford]

" Newsweek excluded schools with strict academic admissions criteria that prohibit motivated, average students from attending. "


That explains why my daughter's school is not on the list. I was prepared to get real POed. We gave up on the public school system years ago after a Fifth grade teacher in an "gifted and talented" program told us that our daughter had a learning disability and was not capable of performing the work. The work he was referring to was pasting pieces of poster board onto a cereal box. She refused to do it because she had enough sense to tell him that it was a kindergarten project. He suggested Ritalin. I suggested he take his head out of his posterior regions and start teaching children for a change. For some reason he seemed insulted by the truth.

When a kid gets bored and disruptive in a normal public school, the teachers never accept any blame for the brainless curriculum. They have only one answer - medication to make the kid a compliant zombie.

We immediately left the school, had her tested - 148 IQ, and put her in private school. She stayed there until she was accepted at Thomas Jefferson HS in Northern VA. This is definitely a public school "with strict academic admissions criteria that prohibit motivated, average students from attending."
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Doc Ford
HMC (SW) USN

[Snipe]

Hey! I went to#105. Majored in surfing basically.

(^_^)
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Tin Can Sailor

[1991932]

Why couldn't you mention that it was La Jolla High in Kalifornia?

Jeez, that was a lot of effort to uncover
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Former "War Criminal"

[wwIIvetsdaughter]

100 Best High Schools? Gimme a brake! Look to see where the contenders in the upcoming National Spelling and Geography Bees come from....for years now they are either home schooled kids or private school kids.

[GenrXr]

[Snipe]

1991932"]Why couldn't you mention that it was La Jolla High in Kalifornia?

Jeez, that was a lot of effort to uncover


What! And deprive you of the fun of scrolling through all that junk?
It really was a fun school to go to in the '50s.


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Tin Can Sailor

[AMOS]

In my estimation, most public schools are a joke.
Don't waste your child's time.

I know one recent high school graduate that couldn't pass the Army entrance exam.

[Tom Poole]

Great post Essayons, I bookmarked it! My daughter attended #179 and received a full academic scholarship at a very good school so I feel qualified to speak about it. I agree with Stevie because certainly, #179 has been infiltrated to a large degree. However, it's not totally devoid of conservative teachers, eg., World History and Physics. My position is that the public school system has permitted itself to become an out-of-control bureaucracy that simply marches lock-step toward goals established by the district, totally devoid of common sense. Those that march the hardest, get the highest ratings, regardless of the absence of common sense.

IMO, school taxes should be terminated and citizens should merely be required to educate their children, through private schools, home schooling or whatever the private sector offers. They'll do the right thing. I would envision a cafeteria style of schooling where a student might attend a general (cheaper) school for courses not in the chosen major and an specialized (expensive) school for courses in the chosen major. I'm thinking about courses like chemistry, athletics, etc., that require large facilities. This also would allow businesses to get in the game and offer tuition based internships at places like newspapers, flour mills, etc.
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'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2