[PeteBrown]

Education has everything to do with the parents and less to do with the school. While I am biased by my and my wife's Midwest experiences (and celebrating my mother's well recognized 32-year career as an elementary teacher), I believe a child's performance is more reflective of his/her parents relative success and past education standards.

In my case, my public school classmates' success range from U-2 pilots, M.D.'s and successful entrepreneurs to digging ditches or going to jail. What was the underlying factor? The parents. Most kids, whether smart or dumb, went to the appropriate univesity or college relative to their mental or socio-economic background to maintain or improve their standard of living. Rich kids went to the appropriate school to take over their parents' companies, while most others worked hard to become self made. Despite the variety of backgrounds, a few still learned the hard way that taking short cuts does not work in the long run.

What I noticed most was that many from the parochial and even some private schools were behind the public school curriculum. Please note that none of the kids from any of the parochial schools attended an AP courses in my high school. However, in nearly every case, the private schools knew more about colleges and their associated requirements for attendance than the public schools. I believe a lot of this is a result of the parents of those student's demanding that the schools help them find the best school for their kids.

YMMV