<p>What makes a good school mostly, the teachers or the students?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>If you had said “education” I might have gone with teachers. But a good school is a combination of elements, none of which you can do without. Your question makes for a great Zen koan, “What is a school without teachers?” and/or “What is a school without students?” There’s really no answer, is there.</p>
<p>But what makes the top schools top? would it be the teachers MAINLY? or the students and if so whether you went to a top public school or the worst public school in NYC. Would it actually make a difference? Would you get the same educational experience, wouldn’t it depend on you?</p>
<p>Good teachers is a given for any good school, but the quality of its student body is what makes a great school great.</p>
<p>It’s an interesting, challenging question, because some of the most selective schools are populated heavily with students who would excel anywhere, but who are also motivated and talented enough to derive the maximum benefits from a school’s resources. Other schools face the challenge of engaging students who might otherwise be lost, or merely muddle through, at a large public school. A “good school,” ultimately, is one which the parent and student will ultimately (if not immediately) believe wholeheartedly was worth the investment. Not every school is Andover or Exeter, any more than every college is Harvard or Yale. Not every kid belongs at Andover or Exeter, and I’d argue that the right fit is more important for the lower-achieving kid. When I began exploring boarding schools for my older son, I declared that he needed transplanting in order to grow properly. His grades are still inconsistent, at best, but he has close friends, and has been able to take four years of theater arts classes. My younger son now attends the same school, and is thriving in a very different way. I am confident that we are all better off than we would have been had they attended our local high school. I attended an all-girls school many, many years ago, just at the time when other traditionally all-boy schools were going co-ed. I do not know whether I would have been happier at a different school - I assume that I was destined to be miserable most of the time between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. I do know that I made lifelong friends, and discovered intellectual and cultural passions that have endured. I’d say visit schools, consider your child’s strengths and interests, and then decide which “soil” your “flower” is likeliest to thrive in.</p>