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. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
It is clear from all these data that the interests of teenagers are not focused around studies, and that scholastic achievement is at most… — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
Schools are successful only insofar as they reduce the dependence of a child's opportunities upon his social origins. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
Children from a given family background, when put in schools of different social compositions, will achieve at quite different levels. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
For to change the norms, the very foci of attention, of a cultural system is a difficult task - far more complex than that… — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
The higher the social class of other students the higher any given student's achievement. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
Particular individuals who might never consider dropping out if they were in a different high school might decide to drop out if they attended… — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
The present structure of rewards in high schools produces a response on the part of an adolescent social system which effectively impedes the process… — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
A child's learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
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. Coleman Copy Share Image
It is one thing to take as a given that approximately 70 percent of an entering high school freshman class will not attend college,… — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
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. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
In every school, more boys wanted to be remembered as a star athlete than as a brilliant student. — James S. Coleman Copy Share Image
