Today I saw that my Alma mater, TJHSS&T, was listed as by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 (that’s right, #1) high school in the nation. TJ is a magnet high school for science & technology. I was a member of the first graduating class that spent all four years at TJ. The senior class before us only spent sophomore – senior years there.
You can watch a video about my high school by following this link to the news story. How much of who I am today is because I was given the opportunity to learn calculus, marine biology, biotechnology, chemistry, physics, earth science, computer programming, and animation in high school?
I played in an award-winning orchestra… I took three years of German and AP English… I hung out with other kids who were interested in learning.
Where are these schools here in Michigan? We need to focus just as much on the top 10% of students as we do on the bottom 10%. Those top 10% are the next inventors, engineers, scientists… they are the ones who might discover the next cancer cure, the solutions to global warming, and predict the next terrorist attack before it happens by analyzing data.
If we continue to focus on “leaving no child behind” we are going to find that we have also allowed “no child to achieve” and failed the smartest students by leaving them bored and uninterested in a pursuit of learning… and probably uninterested in helping a country that did nothing for them.
Yay Mom & Dad for moving to a state (VA) and city (Fairfax) with a strong interest in educating the students at the top of the class too.
