A hat tip is due to U.S. News for ranking Algonquin Regional High School the 25^th best high school in Massachusetts. A word of acknowledgement to the administrators, teachers, faculty, and community members involved in making education a focus of the community. Last but not least, a round of applause to the high-achieving culture that squeezes these results out of Algonquin’s students.

Algonquin likes to brag about our graduation rate and the fabulous schools the students get accepted into. With a graduation rate upwards of 95 percent and college enrollment almost the same, Algonquin is cookie-cutter perfection as far as high schools go. What U.S. News fails to take into consideration (and I doubt it feasibly can account for this) is that the percentage of students who pursue higher education is a stronger indicator of our culture than our academics.

Since infancy, we, the students, have been exposed to the best opportunities, resources, and education available. We’ve tumbled around at Gymboree, been enrolled in numerous extracurricular activities, sat in front of computers packed with the newest typing software, and lounged in the comfy seats of an auditorium that can seat hundreds. The quality of our environment is often viewed as an expectation rather than a privilege; it’s all we’ve ever known.

Being the prized children of professionally ambitious adults, there is an expectation to match that success, if not improve upon it. College seems a natural step in the progression of education and a rite of passage into the workforce. We’ve been guided our entire lives to achieve this, but we’ve been stolen of the chance to build our own raw success.