[sanddrag]

On the issue of magnet schools, I teach at one so I feel somewhat qualified to comment. I know the traditional schools have a feeling of "they get all the god kids and we aren't left with any" and I don't have any real rebuttal to that, but there is another side to the story. At the magnet school I have seen successes that are leaps and bounds ahead of a traditional school. My students here are able to do things that just wouldn't work anywhere else. The whole educational process is smoother and more efficient.

I would speculate that high performing students perform even higher when surrounded by other high performing students.

So, in some sense, wouldn't it be a disservice to the high performing students to slow and diminish their education by placing them in schools with low performing students? Would this strengthen the weak or weaken the strong?

I'm not saying that low performing students don't deserve an equal chance, but there is reason to believe the potential of top performing students could be limited if placed in the wrong environment. When companies hire employees, they take a wide pool of applicants, and select the top performers. Is it wrong for a school district to do the same?

Not trying to start a debate here, I just wanted to present the positive side of magnet schools.