TikTok tour of fancy Midwest high school highlights glaring disparity between public schools around the U.S.: 'Makes me so sad'

Earlier this month, students at Carmel High School in Carmel, Ind. proudly showed off their campus in two separate TikTok videos which now have a combined total of 8.5 million views.

What started out as a fun little tour of one beloved high school has wound up sparking a major debate online about wealth inequality within America’s public school system.

During both clips, students give viewers a sneak peek inside the sprawling midwest high school, which includes an epic swimming pool, a state-of-the-art theater, a TV production studio and even a planetarium.

By all accounts, the school is impressive — and definitely the kind of campus most of us would’ve liked to attend as teens — but as many TikTokers are now pointing out, it’s a far cry from what most American high schoolers get to experience. Especially those who don’t live in high-income areas.

Just days after the original videos went up, TikToker @sanilarena posted a duet in which she silently reacts to the tour while watching it back.

Right away, it’s clear where she stands on the matter, as her eyes widen and her head tilts while she listens to the students describe their high school as though it were a luxury apartment complex.

“Carmel High School really demonstrates the problem with U.S. public school being funded by property tax,” @sanilarena wrote in the video caption.

And boy, does she make a valid point.

“Bookstore?? PLANETARIUM?? MARKET?? WHA-” wrote one commenter, in disbelief.

“This is literally the high schools off of movies that made me have unrealistic expectations,” someone else said.

A lot of people couldn’t help but compare Carmel to the high school that they attended.

“When I was in high school we shared a building with 3-4 other schools and had classes in trailers,” one person wrote. “*cries in underfunded school*”

“We didn’t have enough chairs for lunch in my HS so we sat on the floor,” someone else lamented.