Being kind of interested in the high school education system (since I was recently a member of it as a stuedent), I found this article rather interesting when I was browsing around the internet; http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160 For the people who understand what the article is using as a measurement, do you think it is a good measurement why/why not? For the people outside the U.S. who havn't taken one, an AP exam is basicly a test on a specific subject and if you score high enough some colleges will give you credit as if it was a college course. I don't have any expierence with IB tests but I assume they are similar. -- P.S. Before anyone asks I don't know if the high school I went to is on this list I havn't checked. Also, assuming it is I am not going to point it out.
I seen this and got excited. Then I seen this and it died. The first high school I went to was called Jefferson, it is however in Rockford Illinois, not Fairfax, Va. I don't really see this as too much anyway. As you all know, I dropped out of high school. However, I scored better then 99% of graduating seniors of the entire state in a number of subjects, better then 80% in all subjects save one (99 is over 80 for those confused right now). It really doesn't matter what school you go to as far as high school is concerned. Well ok it helps, but it isn't end all.
Private education? Private schooling? My problem with those places is that you dont suffer enough. You dont learn to deal with social structures. I was bought up in a pretty bad school, and i was also bought up in a private school for a small period of my life. But you know what? Im glad i spent some of it in a crappy school, it taught me how to deal with real people, on all sides of the dice. Real assholes, real girls, real thugs, real arrogance, real elitism. People from all kinds of backgrounds, all kinds of social upbringings and ideologies. I mean.. To loosly quote a brilliant film; All those years spent in a confined social structure like a private school? Total waste. You dont learn a thing. Its like sleeping until you're 18, think of all of the suffering you missed. I mean high school? High schools are your prime suffering years, you dont get better suffering than that.
How old are you Ren? What sort of friends did you have in high school? I'd give anything to be able to go back to that time, when I really did have very many worries, the worries I did have were mundane, and childish. As an adult you have to worry about, "Uh do I have enough money for food if I do this?". "I need plane tickets to get to this place, how long will I have to save to get them?".
My memories of my countries equivilant of high school are generally bad, but towards the end things went really well, the mundane little worries were of course present but they got stamped out eventually. The annoying part about school is conformity, everyone you meet there conforms to a social group, however - the best and most definatly the hardest part is finding a group where you dont have to mindlessly conform, but can join and be yourself! (ye i know this sounds lame and you have heard it before ) But yeah, im still young (17), Highschool isnt that far behind me at all. And yes, i can feel those worries slowly beginning to crawl up my ass . I suppose thats just part of growing up though. I have a lot to learn in that respect.
Sweet, my high school is ranked number two. Hehe, good 'ol SEM. And to address LordKerwyn's question, I don't believe the ratio devised by Jay Mathews constitutes what a "top" school is actually. For those of you who haven't bothered reading the article, Mathews' formula for his ratio was: total number of AP or IB exams taken by students DIVIDED BY number of graduating seniors So you can see the ratio would be measured as 'exams taken per graduating senior.' To me, that would represent more of which school's graduating seniors would have a headstart come college time. That is if those students make a passing grade on those exams, because one should note Mathews says "number of Advanced Placement . . . tests taken by all students at a school . . . " and not 'passed.' *Emphasis added for effect
Hehe... I do believe it is the Science and Engineering Magnet at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center.
Why do Texas and Florida have so many good schools? Personally, I don't think tests are a way of measuring one's real intelligence. All you have to do is memorize some stuff and boom, you're a genius. If you put a couple people on a deserted island and see what happens, I'd say that's a real test. Use the brains you actually have to get off and live. Memorizing a formula can't help you navigate in a foreign country you may have taken a vacation in.
I am not sure how mnay of you noticed when looking at the list, but there several public schools that were excluded from the list because they "were to elite." So not every good pbulic school is on their and no private school is. However, I think if someone was looking for an objective method to measure the standard of education amongst various public schools this is a much better criteria than a lot of others I have, and would make a good baseline for a more in-depth algorithim. Dt_L I think your real test is far less real than the standard used in this list. How many people actually have to live deserted on an island? While that skill may have been valuable 500 years ago the world has substanially "smaller" than it was 500 years ago. Also, this is a list comparing schools not people, even though which school a person comes has some affect on them, it's definetly not end all be all.
I seen the too elite thing, and was thinking, "Where is that list? I want to see it.". Some places are based strictly on test scores, others on graduating students, I think there should be something that figures on them both. Darktemp, how in the hell is that going to help anything? As LK said, how many people in the planet now days have to live on an island? Those skills, are taught to people when they join the military, civilians don't need to know how to do that.