Quote:
Originally posted by baltassoc
How much do schools, especially high schools, matter?
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Like anything, I think it matters somewhat. The reason people seek out the "best" schools is because they want to eliminate that variable as a source of concern. Probably any motivated child can get a pretty good education at most high schools (not the derelict inner-city ones and probably not the one-room schoolhouses in rural wyoming, montana, etc.). But that assumes a motivated child. Balt, I'm sure you were motivated to make of it what you could, and did well. But you're the exception. Hank too. There were probably a lot of middling students who, if in a better school, might have done better things.
On the other hand, and I've seen it in my (larger) family, sending kids to better schools doesn't do the trick either. My sister and I went to very good schools and turned out quite well. My cousins went to nearly as good schools and all are flakes. I explain both by parenting. I'm fairly confident that my sister and I would have done nearly as well (although probably with different courses) had we gone to different, not so good schools, and I'm even more confident my cousins would have been flakes regardless. Although probably high-school dropout flakes instead of mediocre college dropout flakes.
