What Makes A Good School? (Rye, Scarsdale: home, best schools, college)

[ghguy]

I was just reading another thread where several posters repeatedly wrote something like: "Don't judge high schools sole by their SAT scores."

This begs my question about what makes a good school. I always thought that the kind of school I'd like to send my kids to is one that, of course, has good, experienced teachers, excellent resources, good scores on standardized tests, and extra programs like art/music/computers, etc. But I think the big key is the kind of kids that go to that school. It's important that when kids look around at their peers that they see motivated kids who don't think it's OK to be mediocre. To see kids that always insure that the bar is held high. Obviously, this will help to explain why the higher socio-economic areas tend to do better on standardized tests - because their parents are probably driving their kids to be as sucessful as they are. So, nothing against the less well-off areas economically, but one of our most important goals is have our kids graduate with qualifications that can get them into a great college, right?

I'm just curous when I see posters say that diversity is a kind of asset, in and of itself. Of course we all want our children to be well-rounded socially and to be exposed to diverse people of every stripe, but at some point you have to be kind of selfish about trying to find the best schools for your kids you can, right?

I don't have all the answers on this subject. In fact, I'm quite unsure because I have small children and will soon be shopping for a school district myself. So I was just hoping to start a little conversation on this subject and I'd love to hear some feedback.

Thanks

[Tuckahoer]

What makes a good school is the students who go there and who their parents are. Period. Are the teachers and facilities in Scarsdale / Bronxville / Rye / Chappaqua really THAT MUCH better than schools elsewhere in Westchester? Maybe a little... The real difference is the parental involvement, the home life the students have, the examples that their parents set, the influence on their behavoir and habits, etc. On the one hand, it's true it matters who your child's peers are, because they will influence your child and they'll influence the learning environment of the school overall. But, it also is somewhat comforting because if you can provide a stable home and good influence and example for your child and show an interest and become involved, then your child can get a fine education is really any school.