Fresh from the pages of Sports Illustrated, here’s a list of the top ten high-school athletic programs in the nation:
1. Non-denominational Christian (of Congregationalist origin): Punahou School in Hawaii
2. Catholic (Jesuit): Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon
3. Catholic (diocesan): Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California
4. Public: The Woodlands High School in The Woodlands, Texas
5. Catholic (Jesuit): Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri
6. Catholic (diocesan): Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada
7. Public: Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia
8. Catholic (diocesan): Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California
9. Public: Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
10. Public: Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma
This report (a little out of date, but the first I could find) suggests thats 10.4 percent of American children attend private high schools, with 84 percent of those in religiously based schools—meaning 8.7 percent of American high-school students go to religious institutions.
And, according to Sports Illustrated, six out of ten—60 percent—of the best athletic programs in the country are at those religious schools. Doesn’t that seem right, though? Consistently, in the ordinary experience of parents, a massive disproportion of the best schools in anything are the private religious schools.
There’s a lesson there somewhere, perhaps, for those now contemplating an expansion of state-run institutions.
July 6th, 2009 | 5:38 pm
Mr. Bottum–
I would happily believe that religious schools would be better in most respects, such as those you mentioned.
But surely you cannot be so naive to not realize that a lot of the private schools excel not because they are or aren’t religious schools, but because they can enroll anyone, not just based on geography, and can therefore offer “need based” scholarships to athletes for “non-athletic reasons”. Add to that parental “boosters” who donate lots of cash, and there you go.
The situation (recruitment and boosters) is unlikely very different in many of the listed public schools, as many of them likely have an “open enrollment” process where students from outside the particular school’s boundaries can apply to go to that school, often for athletic opportunities (e.g. most h.s. QB’s in Texas).
I too enjoy HS sports, think it is a great opportunity for students to become adults, and enjoy as much as anyone the movie image of a Catholic priest/teacher who supports the football team more than you’d expect from a ‘man of the cloth’, but I’m surprised you didn’t see what is most likely behind this list, misplaced priorities.
July 6th, 2009 | 5:56 pm
Now the question is why most of them are Catholic school.
July 6th, 2009 | 6:13 pm
As the above poster mentioned, when you have the ability to poach promising recruits from whatever nearby district, something you cannot do in many public schools, it is obvious why private schools can assemble fantastic teams stitched together based on merit.
It is also hard to take seriously the idea that there is an exceptional difference between secular private schools and religious private schools, many of which share the most essential reason for their success; large endowments and rich benefactors. Certainly no one would suggest schools like Deerfield, Exeter, and Park are in any objective sense bad schools.
The only lesson here is that given almost unlimited financial resources and the ability to pick and choose who you want to teach, you too can “produce” exceptional students.
July 6th, 2009 | 6:30 pm
Has anyone ranked high schools on the quality religious and philosophical instruction?
July 6th, 2009 | 11:44 pm
Michael,
Acton Institute has done something like what you asked:
http://www.chshonor.org/
July 7th, 2009 | 8:01 am
Having lived in The Woodlands in its earlier manifestation (George Mitchell’s “A real hometown”) allows me to tease out a possible quality these schools may share. The students belong to a coherent community, a small culture with certain fundamental shared principles (like, in a way, the small towns and cities of our former national culture).
July 7th, 2009 | 9:33 am
#5, yes: draws athletes from all over the area, plays road games in Texas and Minnesota, commands a certain loyal following in two states. Good people on the faculty. They have the best high school chess team in the metro area, too.
And yet, one of the neighboring all-girls’ schools once torpedoed a rehearsal for a youth-led Stations of the Cross by permitting the coach to call an athletic practice on Good Friday morning.
It’s less about AI’s perception of orthodoxy, and more about a balance between a school culture that has little in common with what’s left of Catholic culture in the suburbs. High school athletics imitating colleges: not a good role model.
July 7th, 2009 | 12:31 pm
While it is true that private schools can “recruit” players regardless of geography, it is not correct to state that public schools (especially ones with highly successful athletic programs) do not do the same thing, though they must use subterfuge to do so (i.e. families moving into the desired school’s district, or players moving to live with ‘relatives’ in the desired school’s district, etc.). I’ve seen plenty of examples of this during my residences in Texas and Florida.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact