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.
James S. ColemanCultural 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.
James S. ColemanA child's learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher.
James S. ColemanIt is one thing to take as a given that approximately 70 percent of an entering high school freshman class will not attend college, but to assign a particular child to a curriculum designed for that 70 percent closes off for that child the opportunity to attend college.
James S. Coleman