High schools differ from each other on various levels, including international differences between high schools in different countries with different educational standards, expectations and curricula, but also socio-economic differences and various structures of ownership within a country’s educational system–some high schools are more financially privileged than others; some are public, owned and managed by the government, others are private, parochial, or charter schools.
In some places, the public high school a kid goes to is determined by his or her neighborhood or place of residence; in other places, the parents and/or the kids themselves can decide where to go, apply, and be accepted or rejected based on competitive merit.
In the United States, the three most common forms of high school ownership and management are public schools, operated by state and local governments with financial assistance and guidance from the Federal government through its Department of Education; charter schools, which are publicly owned, but their day-to-day operations are managed by private companies or organizations; and private and parochial schools, which can be owned by private individuals, companies, or (in the case of parochial schools) churches and other religious institutions.
The quality of public high schools greatly depends on the neighborhoods. Many schools in areas affected by urban decay and “white flight” have faced great challenges financially, socially and educationally. Some failing public schools have been turned into charter schools on an experimental basis (i.e. their management was taken over by a private corporation or institution), often with excellent results.