<p>Today my school sent out a letter saying the school is ranked in the bottom 30 for the state.</p>
<p>In your opinion, what's the difference between a good school and a bad school?</p>
<p>Those lists are just based on test scores and graduation rate.</p>
<p>Haha, I meant beyond that. The letter just made me think about it how “bad” it is.</p>
<p>Obviously my school is terrible in terms of academics, but then I realized that basically everyone in it says it’s a bad school overall- not just academics-wise. Except when you ask kids how it could be made better and what would make it a “good” school, they never know.</p>
<p>@tennischick- I agree with you. The “experts” who judge your school are doing so only based on some numbers and pretty much have no subjective information about it. Most likely, they haven’t been in school for years and do not know how students actually learn. </p>
<p>@the OP- don’t worry about your high school’s ranking. Colleges know that every high school can’t be the best and they only want to see you taking the most challenging courses at whichever high school you go to. Also, school pride is important and if you’re a freshman, you’ll enjoy your next few years even more if you truly get every worthwhile experience from your high school. </p>
<p>With that being said, I believe that a good high school works kind of like the human body. If it is healthy, the parts are working in tandem with each other. If it is not, then one part has to take a big load and the body ends up collapsing. Hence, the only way for a high school to be “good” is by the students and staff working together to offer the best experience possible.</p>
<p>My school is not too good either, even more so when you compare it to the uppity schools that most of the students on this site attend. But you really have to make the best of what you have. I don’t care for the school here, but the people at my school really make the experience much better. If your school, for example, is behind on academics but has a really good athletics department, go try out for a sport. Make the best of what you have.</p>
<p>a good high school has to have tons of school spirit. great turn outs at school games, regardless of winning or not. tons of people at dances. insane rallies. super intelligent people who are extremely witty and funny at the same time. spirit week is hilarious and everyone dresses up. close-knit relationships with teachers who love what they do and also dress up for spirit week.</p>
<p>I am a fellow Connecticuter, but my school falls on the other end of the spectrum, and to be honest, there’s nothing spectacular about my school. Our avg SAT score is a bit below an 1800 so the kids are already smart enough to pass CAPT (our state standardized test) and take/pass AP courses. I think what makes a high school good is good teachers, intelligent students, good technology, safe, good facilities, and students that get involved. There are other things that I can’t think of right now, but those are a few that come to mind.</p>
<p>The difference between a good school and a bad school, in many cases, is money. In my area, there’s a direct correlation between money and academic quality of a school as well as the quality of the athletic program. The more money a school has, the more money it can spend per student to better educate them and provide opportunities. Also, the more affluent areas with the well-funded schools attract, at least to a degree, a more motivated student body (students whose parents have a college education will also strive for the college education). So results show in college acceptances from top colleges as well.</p>
<p>In terms of planning for future, I’d add good GCs (that get involved, get to know you and have great relations). Also, a non-cutthroat environment, and everything that dblazer and dfree said.</p>
<p>-Majority of students are passing with at least like an 80.
-Offers a variety of classes and not JUST requirements.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That can be accomplished simply with grade inflation and does not necessarily reflect the intelligence of the students.</p>
<p>Well it definitely weeds out the kids who at least try and the ones who’d rather be doing drugs behind the building or something.</p>
<p>I know some schools where the average GPA is like a 3.6, so getting above a 3 is no problem at all. Also, why would you ‘weed out’ the dumb/not motivated kids? Do those people not deserve an education? I could think of a hundred things I’d rather do than go to school (possibly including doing drugs behind the building…) but I manage to stay in the top 10% of my grade so I really don’t see the point you’re making.</p>
<p>Yes, you don’t understand my point.</p>
<p>A good school is one that “fits” its students. Not every student appreciates academically rigorous schools, as not every student will thrive in a purely academic environment. There are other factors as well, like message and overall idea, and everything kind of mixes. </p>
<p>Not every school will be perfect, but a “good” school fits students at least moderately well. </p>
<p>But EVERY school needs to have basic things like respect, morals/ethics, and a sense of striving for improvement. Those things are crucial to any social situation, in fact.</p>
<p>My classmates have no school spirit; I’m not exaggerating when I say 90% of the kids majorly dislike the school. Athletics… I think we scored 3 touchdowns total during the last football season (it’s great seeing your team lose 0 to 70-something… really -_-); it’s a known fact around my school that people come to the games for the marching band instead of the actual game. The other sports aren’t much better. I don’t think we even have rallies, and most people don’t show up to dances- I’d guess maybe 150 people were at homecoming, and there are ~900 kids in my school.</p>
<p>@dfree:
I just finished CAPT Wednesday (most kids finished Friday, but I was absent). The majority of the kids in my room were constantly freaking out about how hard they thought it was, especially the math xD. & our avg. SAT score is somewhere between high 1400s & low 1500s.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the responses :)</p>