25th
High School
Newsweek’s high school rankings chart is out again. Sickening.
As a graduating high school senior this year, I would like to voice my concerns with the nature of ranking high schools based on IB/AP tests. Testing is anathema to a productive high school environment: it encourages conformity to a slim set of teachings, and punishes students attempting to go beyond the bounds set by those classes. Considering both business and art thrives when conformity is rejected (think Steve Jobs’ insistence on selling high-end hardware to consumers, or Samuel Beckett’s constant attempts to write literature that spurned every common literary convention), listing schools based on how successfully they encourage standardized tests is adding to the problem.
There are better ways to waste your life than worrying about statistics.
The high school where I teach is on this list. The administration regularly touts the accomplishments and advances of the IB program — and rightfully so, as those students have worked very hard and will, hopefully, be well-prepared for college and life beyond.
But the rest of the students, those in regular level courses, those in the alternative education program, those who work hard just to get by, well… they usually get ignored. And they’re the ones that I teach. And I don’t think that’s right. Just becuase they don’t make it on to any national statistic ranking is no reason to divert attention or resources away from them.