It’s hard to overlook the amenities – or the lack of them – when searching for a New York City Public high school.  Who wouldn’t be wowed by Stuyvesant’s swimming pool, Frank Sinatra’s rooftop garden or The Harbor School’s fish tanks and stunning campus? At the same time, some of the best and most coveted high schools in the city can have drab, crowded classrooms in serious need of renovation.

And anyone who is mixing private school tours with public can’t possibly help being wowed by the facilities – (if they aren’t overwhelmed by price tags approaching $36,000 annually).

It’s not fair to compare the two, but a friend who had just come back from the verdant campus of Fieldston with its mini-college campus feel in Riverdale toured the highly rated NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies with her son the next day and found the crowded classrooms depressing, even though the teaching seemed inspiring.

Lots of the city’s large high schools were built around the same time and have a similar look and feel – scuffed linoleum and long, seemingly endless corridors, although there are some true architectural gems. You won’t see many fields or tennis courts in city high schools, and a swimming pool really stands out.<!--more-->

What happens in the classrooms, though, matter most, right?  And so far, every popular school we’ve visited  has classrooms packed to capacity and beyond. In some cases, the students sit so close they are actually touching.

I don’t even want to think about what the classrooms smell like after gym class.

Newly built schools – especially those with lots of windows and views of the River, like Millenium, are also impressive to young minds. Many other schools share space, so it’s important on tours to distinguish what is going on in each distinct school, with its own distinct philosophy and culture.

During our first foray into high school tours two years ago, I had to keep reminding my 13-year-old that even though he was the one who had to spend four years in a building, looks didn’t matter as much as say, the quality of teaching,  college placement, graduation rates, and the range of interesting activities.

He kept thinking about the impressive technology we saw in some buildings, along with river views, comfortable student lounges, and fitness facilities. All are great, but they don’t make an education.

Insideschools.org would like to hear more about the impressions of parents and kids after visiting different high schools. What has been impressive, and what has been dismaying?

How do you convince young teenagers not to judge a book by its cover?  Ultimately, do looks matter?