I think most of high school is a case study in self selection. If you select yourself into a high performing group early on you’re golden, and the social pressures become such that you want to do well at academics, sports etc. If you don’t you’re basically screwed, and it’s extremely hard to select out of those bad groups because of the same types of social pressure. Policies should be aimed at interrupting and directing these selection mechanisms toward positive ends. I don’t have kids yet but this is something I’m paying a lot of attention to for eventually selecting a school for my kids - and all of this is, again, just an extension of the same selection pressures.
