Children from a given family background, when put in schools of different social compositions, will achieve at quite different levels.

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

The present structure of rewards in high schools produces a response on the part of an adolescent social system which effectively impedes the process of education.

It 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.

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.

Grades are almost completely relative, in effect ranking students relative to others in their class. Thus extra achievement by one student not only raises his position, but in effect lowers the position of others.

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.