Don't you think there's a disparity between schools. I really don't know anything about rural schools so could some one fill me in?

Say Mike went to a diverse city public school in the hood becuase his parents couldn't pay $6000+ for catholic a year. This public school was special becuase it was very well behaved, and fighting would result in expulsion. It didn't have a lot of money to work with and lacked challenging courses other than 3 AP classes. Tom managed to pass the Calculus exam with a 4. Most of the students weren't that bright so the teachers taught watered down subject at a slower pace. Mike graduated valedictorian with a 3.9 GPA out of 160 or so kids, and scored like 1600/2400 on SAT. He got into the homogenously white North University in the suburbs of another city, which has an average SAT of 2000 becuase of affirmative action. 25% of his class went to college.


Say Tom went to a mostly white suburban public school in a safe nurturing neighborhood. It was an ordinary neighborhood school anyone from the district could attend. The kids were well behaved in school, and physical conflict was rare. Most of the kids were prepapred well and could handle a more challenging course load. Being in an area with more money Tom's school had more money to work with. It also provide 15 AP classes in addition to its more challenging courses. Tom graduated in the top quarter of his class of 400 kids with a GPA of 3.6 and an SAT of 2100/2400. He too got into North University, but out of his own effort, not becuase of affirmative action.95% of his class went to college

At the university, Mike was having trouble settling into the new type of population and the much more difficult classes. He couldn't make any close friends like he had back home, and he had 3 B's and 2 C's in his classes, not like his consistent straight A's in high school. He couldn't adapt his high school studying techniques well enough. On top of that, he has to work 12 hours a week to be able to afford the school. Mike was also homesick becuase of the extreme change in environment from the hood to the suburbs. The valedictorian wasn't measuring up to much in college. One of the subject he had a C in was differential equations, a math class. That was suppose to be his strong point. He was like Shevchenko's move to Chelsea, a total flop.

Tom on the other hand is in a familiar environment. He's making friends left and right. He doesn't miss his home at all becuase North University has become his home. He's getting A's and B's in all his classes. Tom's quick to settle in at college, and the work required is only slightly more than he is accustumed to. He only needs to work 5 hours a week, and most of that is for spending money. So this top quarter kid is doing better than a valedictorian!?

So do you think high schools are equal in quality? These are only two stories based on real people.

I don't think the city schools are on the same level as suburban schools. It's like they expect most of the city students will be going to trade school, the military, or straight to working. They really don't concentrate on the Math, Reading, and Writing enough. I feel the school systems are so segreagted. It's almost impossible for someone in the hood to get a good education without paying for catholic school. So it just prepeuates the cycle of the hood. A kid in a bad school district can't go to good school in another school district is utter bs. Everyone is entitled to have equal quality education as long as they live in America. Every American pays taxes so why can't every American have the same quality education? We all pay different amounts of taxes, but yet we drive on the same road and receive equal military protection. Education should be like that.

This message was edited by DaKiNg5343 on Mar 28 2008.

To be brief, no.

There are far to many factors that go into determining the quality of a school to ever make them all perfectly equal. Property taxes vary. Teaching talent varies. Locations vary. Class behavior varies. etc

What would you propose be changed? The government is not at fault. This problem is with society.

Some of our uni's give a weighting according to where the grades were achieved. I think that's what you're getting at, and it works pretty well. Hell, it promotes elitism, sure - but not for any reasons that aren't justified.