ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
It wasn’t all that long ago-it seems-that we wrote with some amazement and maybe a touch of cynicism about the academic performances of students at Hillsboro High School. At the time, we had four co-valedictorians, each with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. Coupled with an honor-roll list that regularly seemed to include two-thirds of the student body, we were curious how so many students could earn so many good grades. We even wondered aloud if grading standards had perhaps relaxed over the years. It seemed like a reasonable thing to wonder about at the time.
Word last week that HHS was only one of eight high schools in all of Kansas to earn Standard of Excellence in three of the four areas tested by the state last spring puts to rest at least some of our confusion. It appears that students at HHS are simply being enabled by their teachers to be academic achievers. Our students may or may not have more raw brain power than students at other high schools, but it does appear they are being successfully challenged to develop the brain power they do have, and thus to compete successfully with the best and the brightest in the state.
Again, we’re not smart enough here to know how that happens. But we congratulate those who apparently do – the teaching faculty and administrators at USD 410. Lead on.
