You have to put those complaints into context...
Ames High is actually much better statistically than most schools nationally. Everybody loves to say their school system sucks because they're around it and hear all the stories but in this case the grass isn't greener outside the state, let alone in Texas. Ames is a perfectly good school system that would stack up favorably to most in the BigXII and you can't just twist it otherwise because you're familiar with it and not the others.
Similarly, crime is on the rise in most places over the past two years and Ames is still very low statistically. Again, you can't twist it just because you hear about it and watch the local news.
What I'm saying is that people will always feel they can do better elsewhere and there are times where that is true (i.e. Gilbert's school system) but you have to remember that the comparison is to two local schools and you have to extrapolate that nationally, or at least as far South as Texas in this case, to look at the entire picture.
I guess maybe Forde was looking at places where he could score a quickie on his way to the motel or something because that is the only way I'd see Ames rating below numerous places on that list.
