An idea has been touted, that rating schools in their overall excellence is a good thing. Well, I do not necessarily think it is a bad thing either. So let’s debate the pros and cons.
Pros: What is good about rating schools is that you can compare and contrast amongst the schools in your area, and the country as a whole. It means you can clearly see which school is the best. You will know all the teachers are good by just looking at the rating the school gets. It will help you decide which area in the country you will want to move to if you should decide to raise a family.
Children who go to these high rated schools will be looked at more closely by colleges as they will have high expectations of these students. Businesses and foundations may see them as recruiting grounds for potential investments in the future of their companies and groups. Basically, the free market looks for only the best and the brightest and a school with a high rating stands out the most. As such, children associated with that school (the same way as adults are associated with their colleges) will gain a certain level of reputation in society.
Cons: For all that is good about a rating system it will cause a certain level of damage. Teachers looking for a job will seek out employment in these top schools rather than the lower tier schools. . Many of the poorer classes of society may be forced into these low tier schools and be left behind by neglect due to the focus on the higher rated schools. Overall, a lack of resources will also cause many of those in these lower rated schools to run away from that school. (While it can be a good thing under certain circumstances, it can be as equally as bad). These children will be looked at last, because they are in the lower tier schools. In fact, the lower rated schools may make the children, by sheer reputation, appear dull witted.
In addition, schools themselves may corrupt the overall academic achievement of their students to acquire a higher rating. There is such a thing as curving grades so as to bring up the score of all the lower performers. Thus, it manipulates the grade point average and the overall success of the students and their teachers. Other forms of corruption may also develop, such as schemes for cheating on tests, and bribery may also result.
Conclusion: Schools being rated should be a byproduct of the overall academic achievement of each individual student. As such, individual students should be rated and compared first and foremost. From there, the population can look at where these top performers come from to decide what schools would be best for their children. Also, parents should be able to rate the schools that their children attend or have attended so that other parents can view these ratings to help decide where to have their kids educated. In essence an "Angie's list" for schools. The government is not capable of properly monitoring and rating schools. It simply, I feel, is a waste of time and money. We can do it ourselves, for free through the internet and to a certain extent it has already begun. So go ahead and Google your schools. While no official rating system exists, there is at the very least an informal one on schools, and teachers.
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