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Newsweek released that latest list of 1,200 top high school rankings. It is precisely the kind of list that makes people many parts crazy, because their schools aren't listed at all or because their schools are listed and it'll drive up property prices. The NY Sun says that the list snubs the city, as none of the city's prestigious schools are listed in the top 100: "The top-ranked city school, the High School for Arts and Business in Queens, placed at no. 351. Forest Hills High School, also in Queens, squeezed in at no. 1,159." Three other high schools in Queens were listed, as were a school in Staten Island and one in Brooklyn.
How were schools ranked?
Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way. If you have 2006 data showing that your school should be on this list, please contact Mathews at challenge@washpost.com.Matthews told the Sun that the lack of NYC schools on the list was a shame: "It means that they're letting the American assumption that poor kids can't do high-level work control their schools." Right, because AP classes are the standard that all schools should be rated on, versus graduation rates. And Education Sector released a report back in 2005 about why Newsweek's list "doesn't make the grade."
And where's Stuyvesant or Bronx Science on the list? Well, there's a special list of "Public Elites": "NEWSWEEK excluded these high performers from the list of America’s Best High Schools because so many of their students score well above the average on the SAT and ACT." Which means Newsweek just didn't want to include them in the list because they are that good? Huh?
Yesterday, the Mayor announced that 60% of NYC public high school students graduated after 4 years, an increase of 18% since 2002 when he took office. And does Newsweek release this list because it moves copies? Well, US News & World Report's college and post-college school rankings are apparently a noble mission from the perspective of USNWR publisher Mort Zuckerman.
Photograph of seniors at that outlier school, Stuyvesant, by ryan muir on Flickr
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So when they call the list the BEST public high schools in the USA, what they really mean is these are the best high schools that aren't good enough to be an elite school, but still good.
Sounds dumb.
"Yesterday, the Mayor announced that 60% of NYC public high school students graduated after 4 years, an increase of 18% since 2002 when he took office."
Yeah, too bad teachers are encouraged to curve their classes and pass children that actually don't earn their grade. "Floating" kids through NYC schools is common place nowadays and is a disservice to both the children and the community. They should do a study to find out the average reading/comprehension level of that 60% that graduated.
as a person who came from the public school education system in NYC I would have to say that school is roughly the same as jail. If it weren't for the black kids then NYC would be top ten.
notice how many black people go to stuyvesant. Geez louise, it's the year 2007 and black people still can't get into a school you have to take special tests for? why? what's the excuse this time? poor? those asians are poor. racism? nobody gets shit on more than asians. just face the facts.
Massive differences in culture and society lolo. You act as if everyone started on a clean slate.
Are there still people out there who don't know how this list is compiled?
The compilers have made clear for several years that any school with rigorous entrance requirements (such as an entrance test) are not included. Others can probably confirm that the best public schools from pretty much every American city have been excluded.
Stuyvesant and Bronx Science should be proud that they were considered too good to be included.
I'm in the land of NASCAR. Not one employer mentioned anything about my Stuyvesant education. Even though I'm sure many BX sci or stuy grads go to Duke, UNC, Wake Forest etc.
I'm guessing it's only known in NYC.
Massive differences in culture and society lolo. You act as if everyone started on a clean slate.
And yet the teachers union has strong armed the Democratic Party into taking the position that higher teacher salaries are the one and only way to fix education in the US. God forbid parents take responsibility or put off having kids until they are mature enough to raise them. But whatever we do, don't criticize the culture!!!
Kojak: culture and society? I don't understand your argument. DOn't asian kids live in the same society and culture as black kids? I mean you could have 1 piss poor black kid and piss poor asian kid living on the same block and have the asian kid get beaten up every day and get called names and shit and that kid would still get good grades. He'd have to dodge bullets everyday and crack heads same as the black kid. In fact the poor black kid would probably be the guy that beats up and makes fun of the poor asian kid. Even more adversity for the asian kid and he still excels. what's the deal?
interesting what lolo wrote,
now imagine if that black person succeded through all that adversity and comes up for an interview with that Asian guy from the hood. You think he'll hire him?
this is why I usually reject a job is a black person is going to be my boss. had plenty of them when I was temping.
It seems as if they do, but they do not. Even if they grew up around the same socioeconomic circumstances, there is still a cultural divide amongst them. It is true that the parents of Asian children push their kids to be more productive in school, whereas black or Hispanic parents may not push their children as hard (I’m just generalizing, but its true to an extent). There is enormous pressure put on Asian kids especially to excel, if not by their parents, but by society itself. There is a kind of expectation that all Asian kids are smart, so there is pressure to live up to that expectation.
If racism and bigotry did not exist, and children were influenced equally across all subjects, without the abhorrent bullshit that is mass-media, hip-hop culture, and so on. If parents taught their children the same values and virtues, and started everyone on a truly clean slate… then things would be a lot different. But that’s a Utopian view, not reality. No one starts on an equal slate.
everyone knows you can't use asians in an argument about social darwinism cause they are goddamn robots!
what's wrong with robots?
Asian female gang fembots.
kojak: that's only the culture of the parents. Everything else is pretty much the same. They listen to the same music, go to the same school, live in the same hood, live in the same america, watch the same crappy television shows like mtv's laguna beach. I wouldn't say that their cultural divide is that big.
gothamist is by far and away the most racist of the ists.
yet you claim to be in the blueist of the blue states.
unreal.
Last year they put my HS in the elites, this time they are nowhere! Clearly an omission.
www.bergen.org
Finally a poll that shows it like it really is. NYC schools are like the NYPD - they manipulate the numbers so that it looks like they are doing a good job.
It seems ridiculous to me to put admissions-based public schools alongside your everyday zoned high school. Of course Hunter/Stuyvesant/etc. will end up as the "best" - they have a student population that's restricted to extremely high-performing students! It's like apples and oranges. I'm far more interested in how a school does with a range of students.
"Not one employer mentioned anything about my Stuyvesant education."
Perhaps it's because they're appalled you put it on your resume as an adult.