Houston's Best Public High Schools

as a graduate of Aldine and of Texas A&M Univeristy and procpective law student i disagree with this piece that Aldine is one of Houston's best schools. They love tooting their horn when TAKS scores come in, but I've seen their numbers and in my opinion they are below par. When I went there (1999- 2002)They put more emphasis in getting you to take career classes then SAT or AP courses. Their teachers, who taught those classes, had no business teaching them because they offered little help. Why doesn't the community look at the dropping SAT scores, or for that matter the number of students taking the SAT. Lets look at the AP courses and that will be proof enough that these teachers aren't preparing these students. I can tell you that the Aldine education I received prepared me for North Harris Community College at most; definitely not for a 4 yr public university at Texas A&M. Forget the content of my education; they don't push you to be prepared for the workloads you will face going into college, and I understand that a university would be a challenge for any incoming freshman, but I was appalled to see how developmentally I was behind in comparison to my colleagues. I got into A&M because of my parents who had a college education and would not allow me to settle at Aldine standards; because if I did settle I don't think I would have made it through the first year at A&M. The only good teacher who challenged me enough, Mr. Gerald Wesbrook, retired. No other teacher or administrator came close to pushing me to my full potential, so when I got to A&M I realized that there were, according to my professors, basic concepts that I didn't learn in my classes (Chemistry & Math, specifically). So please stop passing on this myth that Aldine is one of Houston's best schools; it is a deciving statement that should be challenged or more then their TAKS or graduation rates. Lets start looking at SAT & AP scores, and the percentage of students that are going to college and actually stick with it to earn an associates or bachelor degree.