Tom Finneran: Which Is The Best High School in The State?

Saturday, May 02, 2020

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Tom Finneran is the former MA Speaker of the House

The name carries its own legend.

Boston Latin School.

U.S. News and World Report suggests that it is the best high school in the state.

It is. And it has always been so. May its legend and its example long continue.

Once upon a time there were two Latin Schools in Boston. Boys went to Boys Latin and girls went to Girls Latin. Truth be told, and given the realities of male adolescence, Girls Latin was probably the better of the two schools. Each school was superlative in its academic preparation and achievement. Everyone knew it and almost everyone applauded it.

Our modern age has merged the two schools and given us Boston Latin School and Boston Latin Academy. It is the Latin School which has taken the state’s top honors.

The legend of Latin School revolves around its academic rigor. It is serious and it is constant. That rigor stands in stark contrast to the contemporary social impulse to giving everyone a ribbon and to declaring that even mediocre performance deserves an award.

Latin’s graduates earn admission to the nation’s best colleges and universities. The school consistently places between twenty and thirty seniors into Harvard’s entering class. The Ivy league and small Ivy League schools are heavily and beneficially populated with Latin school grads. As are the best engineering schools in the country. These are the sons and daughters of Bostonians, spreading the light of accomplishment.

A reasonable person might think that such a consistent record of outstanding achievement---going back almost four hundred years, to 1635---would bring the acclaim of thoughtful adults. A reasonable person might also think that society’s leaders would emphasize the need for other jurisdictions to copy the Latin School blueprint of success. After all, four hundred years of excellence is not to be sneered at.

Which brings us to the Boston Globe. The Globe’s hostility to Boston Latin School is palpable. Its handwringing over Latin School’s “privilege” and “elitism” is misplaced. As usual, the Globe fails to grasp the principle of merit.

There is no doubt that Latin School is elite. It is an elitism born of ability. It is an elitism born of effort. It is an elitism born of achievement. It is an elitism of which America needs more, not less.

Admission to Boston Latin School is not determined by your parents’ status. It is not determined by pulling strings. It is not determined by donation. Rather, it is determined by taking the Latin School entrance exam, an exam which is open to every single child in Boston. The true “privilege” of the Latin School is the equal opportunity to compete with the sons and daughters of the well-to-do. And the sons and daughters of Brighton and Roslindale, of Southie and Eastie, of Dorchester and Mattapan, and of Roxbury and the South End, have, for centuries, competed and succeeded in gaining admission to those hallowed halls.

But gaining admission is only the beginning of a long journey. Then comes the hard part. Then comes the effort which is requisite to success. Then comes the effort which is demanded and nurtured. For there is no success to be had at the Latin School without consistent effort. One’s brains and ability may have gotten you past the entrance exam but now you are shoulder to shoulder with other smart kids and consistent effort is the key to survival and to success.

The formula is simple, coupling ability with effort. The results are stunning.

Make Latin School the model and leave Latin School alone.