America's Best High Schools

[dgriffin]

America's Best High Schools


A state-by-state look at the best-performing high schools in the U.S. Does your child already go to one?


Kimberly Lynch, a redhead with freckles, had a keen interest in sunblock. So much so that she spent the past year developing a new method to test the effectiveness of sunscreens and recently submitted the results to a medical journal.

The 17-year-old senior at Bergen Academies in Hackensack, N.J., is quite a bit younger than most scientists submitting papers to accredited medical journals. Then again, Lynch doesn't go to a typical public high school.

Bergen Academies, a four-year high school, offers students seven concentrations including science, medicine, culinary arts, business and finance, and engineering. It even has its own stem-cell laboratory, where Lynch completed her experiments under the guidance of biology teacher Robert Pergolizzi, a former assistant professor of genetic medicine at Cornell University.


www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jan2009/bw20090114_146291.htm


As the gap between rich and poor gets wider, this is how America's leaders will be educated. The same way they were in the past, in private schools. You school tax dollars will go to support a plethora of trendy programs and skyrocketing teacher salaries, but not a solid education.

[concerned]

That made me remember something. Many years ago I taught( or rather lead) some classes in religion. The new movement to attract the youth to religion was based on this seridipity thing. Only positive aspects of religion was stressed. I never understood how to make something postive out of 10 commandments; in particular--thou shalt not kill, or- thou shalt not steal, or better yet-screwing around with your neighbors wife( if you are male) although I guess in todays equal rights it should say screwing around with your neighbors husband( if you are a male). I'm all confused.

[concerned]

This high school I believe is up there in the top schools.

www.benedictinehighschool.org

Benedictine was founded in 1911, under the name of Benedictine College, by a group of Benedictine monks from Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. Seeking to continue the work of their founder by establishing learning and culture, they came to Richmond to establish a Catholic high school for boys. They adopted the successful and prestigious military academy type model, which also meshed quite well with the monastic life of the monks. The order, discipline, and hierarchy of the military is very much analogous to the structures in the monastery and the Church. The aim was, and continues to be, to form young men in body and soul--to nourish a love of Truth, foster the life of virtue, and promote a healthy life.

[dgriffin]

The Old South still believes in military discipline and military schools.

Here's a version of the Ten Commandments the students might have found easier to follow:


1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me that are big and ugly and unkind. Money is OK.

2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God, but you may swear something is true if it's sort of true, almost true or ought to be true.

3. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy if the mall is closed.

4. Honor your father and mother or ignore them.

5. You shall not kill anything on the endangered species list.

6. You shall not commit adultery in church, or if pressed for time, at least not on the altar.

7. You shall not steal anything that is nailed down.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, unless you're trying to eliminate him in honoring the 9th commandment.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife unless she really asks for it.

10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor, if it's locked up or broken.