Top 100 High Schools in the USA

A thoughtful observer of American society will quickly observe that one of the characteristics of the nation is its tendency to evaluate and rank a host of things. It is seen in the college football and basketball pools, in restaurant ratings, in graduate college rankings, in where one places in one's graduating high school or college class, in regional and national rankings of high school athletes in various sports, in ranking cities that are deemed to have the best/worse commutes, the safest cities, the best and worse crime rates, the best places to retire, best and worse cars, trucks, televisions, movies, etc. In that mix is the ranking of high schools.

The top 100 High Schools in America was published over the weekend by USA News and World Report. Fairfax County, the county in which we live, has three high schools ranked in the top 100. At the top of the list as being the best high school is Thomas Jefferson HS. TJ is a science and computer specialty school that draws students from across the county. Their labs are better equiped than most colleges. To gain entry to TJ one has to go through a screening process that yields them the best of the best. TJ is the school that Josh tried to gain entry to but did not make to the final round.

Langley, another Faifax HS is ranked number 37. And Josh’s school, Oakton HS, is ranked number 88. What is interesting is that though most in the county have viewed Oakton as one of their best high schools, the School Board in its wisdom has been talking about changing the school boundaries, decreasing the school population and making other educational changes. Those who have opposed the changes have been arguing that as the school is one of the strongest that they Board could end up undercutting its strengths. We suspect that the vocal opponents have just been added a strong argument against making any changes.