July 8, 2009

Educayshin, u say?

My wife and I are researching schools for our daughter. I know, we should have had all that figured out while she was still in utero, but here we are. Besides the scientifically-proven method of closing our eyes and pointing at random names in the yellow pages, we've been researching online as well. One of the websites I looked at was greatschools.net, which assigns its own ratings to schools based on some arbitrary formula I couldn't divine. It also allows people to post reviews, which is where the rubber really meets the road on this site. It has all the usual product review intrigue: People with an axe to grind, current & former students taking potshots at the teachers for yuks, people who are obviously school employees, posting reviews that are just a little too glowing, and that staple of the product review, the spelling-challenged nitwit. Fine, I'm one of those kooks who probably puts too much stock into spelling ability, but I submit that a person who spells it 'Disaplen' might not be the best judge of a particular schools' merits. Call me crazy. Or call me Ishmael. At least I've read the book.

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