Nobody can believe the size of Carmel High School. In this video posted to the Indiana school's TikTok, students show off some of its mind-boggling facilities. From an aquarium to a planetarium, it's enough to make even the most well-endowed university jealous. By the looks of this video, you can find just about everything at Carmel High School... except a black student. 


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Carmel High School is located in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel and is the only public high school available for the city's 100,777 residents. Its campus is over a million square feet, and is made to serve a student body of 5,414. 


People were understandably shocked to watch students show off a high school of this size. "Might as well be its own city," one TikTok comment says. "Ok I go here and I swear I haven't seen half of this," a student says. 





Unsurprisingly, Carmel high school's students are thriving in their fantastic environment. The school possesses 168 state athletic championships, including 37 from their girl's swimming team, (a clean sweep since 1987). Academically, its students rank 6th in Indiana according to U.S. News & World Report rankings, including 52 National Merit Scholars, and 23 US Presidential Scholars. While the resources afforded to these students are undoubtedly fantastic, a public school like this raises the question... how?


The Carmel Indiana median income is estimated to be over $110,000 a year, with the average price of a home about $330,000. This means that Carmel is one of the wealthiest cities in America, and without soaring property prices. But money is only part of the reason Carmel High School is so impressive. 




The politics surrounding school funding is a messy business, and one beyond my knowledge and pay grade to accurately comment on. No matter the reasons, there are dramatic discrepancies in the public educational resources provided to kids in this country, and a clear trend as to who benefits from those inconsistencies. According to 2010 census data, Carmel Indiana is over 85% white, and about 0.2% black. Carmel High School raises that number to just 3.8%. If the ability to build this high school with public funds exists, it's past time we figured out how to improve public schooling across the board. Let's make it everyone's problem, and let's make it happen.