The Bloomberg administration, having decided that the small school movement is the wave of the future, has opened nearly 100 small high schools and plans to open another 100 next year. Each of these schools is supposed to have no more than 500 students.

With more than 300,000 students in our public high schools, we project that the city will have to add at least another 400 new high schools to accommodate all high school students.

Now whatever other problems these schools may encounter, it seems clear that the Department of Education will have to find hundreds of new school names as the little high schools multiply.

In the 19th century, public schools were simply numbered P.S. 1, P.S. 2, and so on. High schools, however, were usually named for eminent Americans. New York City named several high schools for presidents, including James Madison, James Monroe, William Howard Taft, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. One high school – William Maxwell – was named for a revered school superintendent, and another – Samuel Gompers – for a labor leader. In the 1960s, high schools were named for the philosopher John Dewey, the socialist leader Norman Thomas, and the television journalist Edward R. Murrow.

The Bloomberg administration’s latest wave of small high schools includes the FDNY High School of Fire and Life Safety, presumably for future firefighters; the Food and Finance High School, perhaps for those who want to run a restaurant; the Pablo Neruda Academy for Architecture and World Studies, named not for an architect but for a Chilean poet who won both the Stalin Peace Prize and the Lenin Peace Prize. There is even a Peace and Diversity Academy, for those who want peace and diversity.

It is no easy matter to come up with hundreds of new names for small high schools, each catering to different interests. So, as an act of public service, we offer a few suggestions:

* The Ayn Rand School for Self-Esteem
* The Richard M. Nixon School for Political Ethics
* The Lyndon B. Johnson Academy of Political and Military Studies
* The Susan B. Anthony High School of Cosmetology
* The Carrie Nation School of Viticulture and Science
* The George W. Bush School for Elocution and Communication Arts
* The Joseph Stalin High School for Global Peace and Justice
* The Benito Mussolini High School for Rail Transit Studies
* The Tammy Faye Baker School of Makeup and Environmental Design
* The Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches
* The Pontius Pilate High School for Decision-making
* The Martha Stewart School for Penal Reform and Interior Design
* The Bronx High School of Punctuation and Careers
* The Brooklyn High School of Flat-Fixing and History
* The Manhattan High School for Vegans and Technology
* The Queens High School of Highway Construction and Airport Maintenance
* The Staten Island High School of Existentialism and Hotel Management
* The Michael R. Bloomberg High School for the Interdisciplinary Study of Politics and Economics

Twenty down, only 380 to go. This is a job that is too big for us and too big even for the Department of Education. Do your patriotic duty, dear reader, and send your suggestions to Chancellor Joel Klein or Mr. Bloomberg.

Ms. Ravitch is research professor of education at New York University.