I went to what is technically a public school in NYC. Unlike a neighborhood HS, though, you had to take an entrance exam to be admitted. The premise was that "academically gifted" students from all 5 boroughs were entitled to a premium education without having to pay private school tuitions.

Did it prepare me better for anything? Perhaps. As I have no basis for comparison over what [i]regular[/i] public schools or even private schools are like, I can't really say if it prepared me "better." But, FWIW, I can say it was a fairly rigorous acadmic program.

Unfortunatley, it is easy to paint the whole public education system with the brush supplied by some poor large urban districts, or those that have bent to accomodate widely diverse population. On the whole, the majority of public school systems do a great job. I know people will compare our school systems with Japan and other countries where the population is homogenious but we still educate more people and to a higher degree than any other country.

I went to a very good lower middle class public high school and it still is. My wife went to a different very good public high school and it still is. My  sons go to a different public high school and it is a very good school and my wife teaches at a different public high school and it too is a very good school.

When saddled with all the extranious BS that public schools face, the US still has the best public education system in the world.

Didn't have prayer.  Did have pledge.  Only went to three or four football games while in High School so don't know if they did the prayer there.  Sometimes did do prayer in chorus though before we went on stage...

I went to Ross S. Sterling in Houston.

It was great because racial equality wasn't where it is today(don't go there with flames unless you lived through busing in the late 60's, okay?).
Anyway, I was a white minority in a predominantly black high school. It gives me a different perspective on things. My peers in business often went to private schools to avoid busing and a diverse environment. I think I learned more by being in the melting pot and I'm glad I did.

Sterling Raiders, 1974 graduate

Yes, I realized that.  I also go to a public university.  I was merely comparing the differing standards between various colleges within my university.
That's a very good point.  All I have experience with are public and private schools in the midwest, where there isn't much difference from what I see.
I agree.  I am one that believes an education itself must be balanced as well, and I have never heard of a school that can pull that off.  For someone to get a complete education I believe either they need to be homeschooled or they need to have the responsibility necessary to teach themself later on.  That is what i have been trying to do....  I am majoring in physics and computer science so I try to balance myself in whatever spare time I can find.  Besides doing things like reading history and philosophy (Pascal rules!) I have been attempting to teach myself latin.

A very good point and an option worth looking into, however my (hopeful) career in LE will probably be pretty prohibitive to this option.

9th grade at public High School, 3 years at [red][size=5]Marine Military Academy[/size=5][/red]



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