How Are the Schools in this Area?

school-signLast weekend, while attending my daughter’s volleyball tournament in San Antonio, I observed the sign shown here posted all throughout the Middle School at which the tournament was held. I’ve been to a lot of public and private schools for my kid’s basketball and volleyball games over the years, but have never seen a sign such as this. I found it interesting and it started me wondering, and making assumptions.

How much can such a sign tell us? Can one extrapolate a broad and deep set of accurate assumptions based on nothing more than the words on this sign, and the fact that it’s prominently displayed throughout the school, inside and outside? What do the words on the sign tell us about the school and its kids, about the parents, the parent’s jobs and socioeconomic status, about the homes and neighborhoods that feed into the school, or whether these kids are someday headed for college?

For me, I thought at first, “this must be a school that struggles academically and has discipline problems”. And, “the homes and neighborhoods that feed into this this school must be low cost homes in low cost areas and the owners and renters are mostly blue collar workers”. Those were just some of my assumptions, based on nothing other than the words on this sign.

Was I right?

As the day wore on, and I had down time between games, I wandered around and made further observations about the school. It seemed to be a newer facility, in very good condition. The gyms were very nice, with newer style flooring and good bleachers. There was no graffiti or visible evidence of why such a sign would be needed.

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