Particular individuals who might never consider dropping out if they were in a different high school might decide to drop out if they attended a school where many boys and girls did so.

A child's learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher.

Cultural dominance of middle-class norms prevail in middle-class schools with a teacher teaching toward those standards and with students striving to maintain those standards.

As an example, one of the schools I have been studying is too small to compete effectively in most sports, but participates with vigor each year in the state music contests.

The educational resources provided by a child's fellow students are more important for his achievement than are the resources provided by the school board.

In a high school, the norms act to hold down the achievements of those who are above average, so that the school's demands will be at a level easily maintained by the majority.

Schools are successful only insofar as they reduce the dependence of a child's opportunities upon his social origins.