U.S. News & World Report has released its newest annual
list of the top 100 public high schools in America. We’re supposed to ooh and ah at the high level of achievement of these public schools, and wistfully wonder what’s gone wrong with all the others. Yet to think that this list has any bearing whatsoever on real American public high schools is preposterous.
I don’t claim to recognize all 100 of the schools on this list, but I recognize enough of them to know that this list of “public” schools includes a huge number that are public in name only. Although taxpayer dollars (in many instances, oodles of them) pay for the schools, entrance exams and rigorous applications that screen for the best determine who gets to go to them. As people ought to know, but somehow keep forgetting, most public high schools are required to open their doors to all students — without exception — who happen to live in any given school district. News flash to U.S. News & World Report readers: Whenever schools get to skim off the cream for themselves, they end up terrific.
I admire the schools on this list as much as the next person, and would be thrilled to have even one of their graduates enroll in one of my college courses. But everyone needs to be clear about one thing: There’s absolutely no connection between the schools on this list and improving the quality of American public high-school education.
I propose a new list — The Top 100 Public High Schools in America.
