New list of high school rankings raises questions

This week’s issue of U.S. News & World Report includes the magazine’s first ranking of the nation's high schools. Whatever this list represents in terms of journalism or public service, it must be understood also as an exercise in business, in extending the U.S. News brand, in helping it survive in a financial and technological climate hostile to news magazines. Magazine executives also say they hope the ranking will inspire a public conversation about what makes a good school. But the ranking raises a more fundamental, disturbing issue. The ranking is a centerpiece of what we might call the Anxiety Industry, the same booming market that includes test-prep classes and private college-admissions consultants.

Click here to read The New York Times article.