Comments on: Why Isn’t Decatur High Among Newsweek’s Top High Schools?

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:22:59 +0000

If Decatur were ranked as the top school in GA by Newsweek, I would be deeply worried about what poor choices had been made to game the ranking system to get there. (see willow’s post, above)

By: Andisheh Nouraee

Andisheh Nouraee — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:51:42 +0000

I wasn’t a good student until I got to university.

By: nelliebelle1197

nelliebelle1197 — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:39:53 +0000

Amen. I don’t know how people expect the government to provide little things like good roads and schools and libraries and sidewalks and Medicare and police departments and public works if they don’t understand that the cost of living in a civil society is PAYING for the things that make that society a quality enterprise. The disconnect is bizarre.

So WERE you validicktoriun?

By: Andisheh Nouraee

Andisheh Nouraee — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:35:31 +0000

Certainly the rankings aren’t perfect, but I think the schools ranked 1-100 are for the most part superior to the schools ranked 101-200, etc.

I wasn’t kidding about my high school being in the top 100. I was (through no fault of my own) fortunate enough to grow up in Montgomery County, MD, just outside DC. Look through Newsweek and US News rankings and you’ll see most of the high schools in Montgomery County in the top ranks.

Montgomery County’s quality schools are a nurtured fluke. Because it’s close to the federal job mill, the area is dense with educated family-havin’ professional-ish middle-to-upper-middle-income types whose kids tend to be high academic achievers.

But Montgomery County voters (like their cousins in Fairfax Co, Va, across the Potomac) commit their tax dollars to maintaining excellent public schools. Montgomery County spends more than $15K annually per student to keep its schools great. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but Decatur spends less than half that amount.

There’s more to quality education than money. There are pitiful school systems that spend way more than good ones. But money is a great macro gauge of a community’s commitment to quality public schools.

In general, Georgians are more tax averse and skeptical of government spending than Marylanders. Money’s not the only factor, but it’s a big factor in what makes quality public schools. You get what you pay for.

By: Sweettea

Sweettea — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:15:22 +0000

With K-5 we are closer I think. With 6-12 we are not closer to excellence. IMO, the vast majority of decisions at that level seem to be putting a damper on excellence and promoting mass mediocrity. It’s almost like it’s two different school systems.