I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
Yeah, Fairfax has good schools. But you're misrepresenting the truth: what school has the highest *percentage* of 1600 SATers, etc. I suspect Jefferson High is larger than most private schools. -Declan On Fri, 27 Sep 1996, ronsimpson wrote:
I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
// declan@eff.org // I do not represent the EFF // declan@well.com //
On Fri, 27 Sep 1996, ronsimpson wrote:
I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
Yeah, Fairfax has good schools. But you're misrepresenting the truth: what school has the highest *percentage* of 1600 SATers, etc.
I suspect Jefferson High is larger than most private schools.
It's kind of funny to me to see Jefferson being discussed like this, speaking as a student of it. :) Actually, it's not all that big a school, thanks to the magic of controlled admissions, with 1600 students for 4 grades. This may be a larger number than many private schools, but it is half the size of many of the other public schools. Jefferson probably has one of the highest percentages in the country, if only because you have to pass a rigorous standardized test just to get accepted to it. -- Ben Byer root@bushing.plastic.crosslink.net I am not a bushing
At 9:22 AM -0400 9/27/96, ronsimpson wrote:
I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
I took some of my science classes at Jefferson. Yes, shocking as it may seem, I AM A PRODUCT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Help me before it's too late. (Seriously, my view is that schools are not very important. All success, academic or technical, derives from one basic determining factor: those who read for pleasure, succeed, and those who don't read for pleasure, don't. The young child who reads will usually keep reading, whether novels, encyclopedias, lists like this, etc. The child who is not into reading will likely never get into it later in life. Which is OK, as there is a serious shortage of tradesmen, at least in my area, and more kids ought to be taught usable trades. Seriously. Our "ideal" that all children should attend college is absurd, given the lack of academic preparation, desire, and reading skills that so many high school students lack. Most community colleges are essentially becoming Grades 13-14, with most of the Grade 13-14 students reading at the 9th-grade level (which most of us on this list were reading at when we were in the 7th-grade, or earlier).) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
Timothy C. May wrote:
At 9:22 AM -0400 9/27/96, ronsimpson wrote:
I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
I took some of my science classes at Jefferson. Yes, shocking as it may seem, I AM A PRODUCT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Help me before it's too late. (Seriously, my view is that schools are not very important. All success, academic or technical, derives from one basic determining factor: those who read for pleasure, succeed, and those who don't read for pleasure, don't. The young child who reads will usually keep reading, whether novels, encyclopedias, lists like this, etc. The child who is not into reading will likely never get into it later in life. Which is OK, as there is a serious shortage of tradesmen, at least in my area, and more kids ought to be taught usable trades. Seriously. Our "ideal" that all children should attend college is absurd, given the lack of academic preparation, desire, and reading skills that so many high school students lack. Most community colleges are essentially becoming Grades 13-14, with most of the Grade 13-14 students reading at the 9th-grade level (which most of us on this list were reading at when we were in the 7th-grade, or earlier).)
On the "ideal that all children should attend college": I grew up in Ohio and went to school in the 1950's. College was a luxury, or necessary only for professional jobs (doctor, etc). There was no Ohio income tax, and no state lottery, both of which were instituted (in the 1970's) at least partly on the premise of helping schools. I don't have to elaborate on where the money went, right? But, if you are suggesting seriously that one of the greatest money scams of all time, which involves not only moving pay-for-school to the masses (i.e., requiring college for nearly everyone), but makes indentured servants out of most of the people who get a serious degree, well, you're up against the big bucks on that one.
The human formerly known as "ronsimpson <ronsimpson@unidial.com>" wrote: {I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of {National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public {High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA) Er, how about the schools with the highest percentages, not the largest number? A public school will most certainly have more students than home schools or private schools. Every home schooled child I know has a significantly better grasp on the world than any public or private schooled child. Perhaps only because their parents take a great interest in their education, but the results stand out regardless. Cypherpunk relevance? Sure - what does the gubmint allow you to do? What information are you allowed to learn, and from what authorized sources? How are those sources authorized? Who stamps the seal of information approval upon those documents, and how do we know that the information isn't simply a 'corrected' view of history (or physics, or english language...)? We don't, unless there are multiple channels of information to compare against, from 'signed' by experts, to pseudonymous authors, to completely anonymous authors. The only way to be certain that your children learn about the way things _really_ are, is to allow for these sources. -- no sig too small
Lsurfer@cris.com (Randy Bradakis) wrote:
The human formerly known as "ronsimpson <ronsimpson@unidial.com>" wrote: {I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of {National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public {High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
Er, how about the schools with the highest percentages, not the largest number? A public school will most certainly have more students than home schools or private schools.
Well, even then you are probably going to have a tough time making your argument. Public "magnet" schools and other public schools which target the top flight students in major metropolitan areas will usually have a very high percentage of such students because they are able to "cherry pick" the ones they want (and avoid dragging down averages with students whose parents have "pull" that some private schools must deal with.) If you take the percentages for a school district or other large geographic area which covers several schools you will probably end up with a better comparison. Then again, even with such a geographic comparison you may not end up with the results you seem to want. In certain areas of the US the public schools are excellent (generally the Midwest judging from published surveys of test results and other somewhat meaningless tests :) and in some ares the public schools are horrific. Making broad claims regarding which types of education are good and which are bad is often a fools errand.... jim
On Fri, 27 Sep 1996, ronsimpson wrote:
I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
As a former Fairfax resident I can tell you that the reason the school preforms so well is because of the immense income from local property taxes, and because the Fairfax school system has taken great pains to maintain autonomy and freedom from the public school system at large. They have managed, quite effectively, to create a private school that receives public funds and keeps out interlopers. They have my admiration for this task. I can also point out that everyone in the Greater D.C. area is trying to get their kids into the various Fairfax schools. Some resort to lying to the DMV about their address to do so. It is a measure of the clout of the Fairfax school system that a few complaints have triggered a crackdown on district monitoring which (surprise surprise) is concentrated in Fairfax. -- I hate lightning - finger for public key - Vote Monarchist unicorn@schloss.li
participants (9)
-
Ben Byer -
Black Unicorn -
Dale Thorn -
Declan McCullagh -
dlv＠bwalk.dm.com -
Jim McCoy -
Lsurfer＠cris.com -
ronsimpson -
Timothy C. May