Constant Competitions

Many times teachers and administrators tell high school aged students that nothing is a competition. In sports, if you have fun you won, right? When it comes to testing, slow and steady wins the race, do the best you can, right? Well, with today's focus on testing, colleges and rankings this is not right anymore. I read this article about the issues of high school rankings and found it very insightful. I came from a school that always got high rankings and "grades," however, my mom aids kids with disabilities and among the lower class and says we should get the opposite grade and rank. While there are students passing AP tests and standardized tests with flying colors, getting accepted into the greatest schools across the nation while juggling theater or varsity sports, there are many kids that don't even read at a 7th grade level, trying to pass OAT's to graduate high school alone. There are kids that come to school sleep deprived and starved due to their home lives and our school does nothing to aid their needs. So why, why does a school that ignores necessary improvements and thrives on the minorities success get a high grade card, rather than a school such as the one where my father teaches. At his school they do try to fix these problems, and while they don't have as high of test scores and GPA's, they're trying to improve and encompass success for the entire school. As children we're always told "it's not a competition" and I would associate that phrase with what high school I went to especially. Public or private, it's not a competition, however, it is becoming one. And how sad, one of the only equal concepts in our society, education, is now a competition.

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/High_School_Rankings/