One old adage for me that comes to mind is “You play to win.” In your editorial, you state “the survey cannot be regarded as legitimate if schools have to self-select.” This implies that there is something wrong in people or institutions self-selecting in a competition.

If this was the case, then none of you would be attending this school or applying to top colleges; there would be no Oscars or Pulitzers or Nobel Peace and Science prizes. Almost all awards or prizes require either nomination or self-selection. We don’t think that because many students don’t apply to Lowell or Harvard or because actors aren’t nominated for Academy Awards that achieving these goals are devalued. I am sure there are students just as capable as Lowell students who did not even apply to this school, but that doesn’t mean that getting accepted at Lowell is not a valuable accomplishment.

Even though you question their validity, the Newsweek rankings are important to many at Lowell. National rankings are important to many students, parents, alumni, staff and to me. They are a major reason why this school has endured for 155 years while most other schools in the district have been closed or re-constituted several times over.

There was an administrative communication problem last year that resulted in this unfortunate lapse in our ratings which disappointed many people. Rather than question the legitimacy of the process, let’s make sure that Lowell is sitting this year at the game table when the cards are dealt.

— Jeremy Gribler, math teacher