Comment by freyr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by freyr | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

In the U.S., moving from the city to the suburbs is probably the best thing you can do to ensure decent public schooling. For instance, a recent list of top ranked public high schools from US News and World Report:

    Academic Magnet High School, South Carolina
    Maine School of Science and Mathematics
    BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona
    Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia
    Central Magnet School, Tennessee
    Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, Georgia
    Haas Hall Academy, Arkansas
    International Academy of Macomb, Michigan
    Payton College Preparatory High School, Illinois
    Signature School, Indiana

Be very careful with that list. Those are specialized, highly competitive schools. What puts them on that list as opposed to Oklahoma School of Science and Math or North Carolina School of Science and Math is that the latter are boarding schools that serve their whole state. These are schools that serve the same role but only allow people in from their county (e.g., Alexandria County for Thomas Jefferson).

Also, US News and World Report rankings are useless. They're a measure solely of prestige and brand, not of any actual quality of education.

I'm not saying your wrong. I'm just saying that this data doesn't support your point.

Unless things have changed, Thomas Jefferson lets in people in other counties as well (ie fairfax county).

They must have changed that since 2005 when I was dealing with their graduates. It certainly wasn't open to me earlier on when I was a high schooler elsewhere in Virginia.

I don't know where most of these schools are listed, but I do know that Payton is in Chicago proper and out out in the suburbs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com