Breaking up the best high schools

This isn't so much of a conspiracy more as my own thoughts on one of the greatest injustices done to the education system in my hometown ever.

My city has 2 "Academically talented" high schools(hereby refered to at "AT") that offer advanced courses for students. The schools are consistently ranked in the Top 10-15 in the country, public or private, and have been the subject of a documentary.

The other high schools in the city are the stereotypical high schools that are glorified baby sitting services. The state grades schools by a state wide standardized test and the two "AT" schools always got As while the regular schools got Cs and Ds.

Recently the school board passed a plan to improve the regular high schools. What was the plan? To hold teachers to a greater standard by making sure they know the subjects they're teaching? Improve the curriculum so all students learn geometry before their senior years?

No, the plan was to disband the two "AT" schools and make the students go to their normal high schools. The reasoning? The "AT" schools took away the top students from the other schools, and that artificially lowered the scores.

Nevermind that these students represent at most 150 of the 2,000-3,000 that go to the school, why do you break up what were considered by many, not only the best schools in the city, but the entire state?

I went to one of these schools and I got an outstanding education from there. Had I gone to my normal high school, I know I would have ended up for the worse. It was one of the last schools that catered to students at the top of the bell curve, rather than the bottom of it. It made those who were good thinkers to become great thinkers and for the first time since I was in first grade I didn't think going to school was a waste of my time.

Just another hit for education for America. And I wonder how 1/3rd of Americans believe the Sun revolves around the Earth or 1/2 believe in literal Creationism.

The school board, no of whom would have qualified for the AT high school, made a decision that will change statistics but won't actually improve the quality at the other high schools.

Basically it is a bone headed decision.

It will adversely affect the top performing students that were at the AT high school.

The bigger picture here is that people fear smart people. They especially fear smart people when smart people group together and become even smarter.

Originally posted by Wildbob77
The school board, no of whom would have qualified for the AT high school, made a decision that will change statistics but won't actually improve the quality at the other high schools.

Basically it is a bone headed decision.

It will adversely affect the top performing students that were at the AT high school.

The bigger picture here is that people fear smart people. They especially fear smart people when smart people group together and become even smarter.

Very true. One detail I left out but is worth mentioning, the vote to disband was passed 6-5. The 5 people who voted against were the only ones on the board who had college degrees.

reply to post by FSBlueApocalypse



My point exactly.

I think that there should be a recall movement started against the school board because they are too stupid to be in positions of power.

when are people going to realize that reality is far superior than to looking good on paper?

it's pathetic how the bottom rung is so jealous that it saws off the top of the ladder

in the long run this is only going to hurt the children

i wish that i'd had an opportunity to attend a school like the one those people are closing down. the schools i went to were awful and the teachers never actually taught. luckily i was smart enough to realize that i could learn on my own.

The thing is, it won't help the statistics that much even. They did a study involving the best performing regular high school, which earned a C grade on the state grading scale, giving all the students a 4% increase across the board for all scores, and factored in the scores of the students who would be added from the AT schools, and it still only brought it up to the B/C borderline.

As for removing the school board, the plan doesn't go into effect until the next school year. This year is school board elections so I'm sure those will be interesting. Sadly, my town is divided between Old South Rednecks and more recent transplant from businesses relocating here and the Navy. It was mostly kids of the last group who went to the schools, while few of the kids of people who's families have lived here since the turn of the century did. I remember one kid who did attend who came from that kind of family, and his dad immediately pulled him out when we discussed evolution in 9th grade Biology. In fact, the preacher of the evangelical church refer to the schools as "Private schools for the Jews." From what I understand, the 5 people who voted against it are sure bets to retain their seats and 4 of the people who vote for it are locks. All they need is one seat to change and with that a re-vote. I've also heard talk of a Dover-esque trial, though I'm not sure on what legal grounds they have.

So elections day has come and gone, and the board remained intact. I can't help but wonder sometimes.