Deb Fallows has a very interesting and popular post on her own site, about all the layers of pressure and significance that go into the question, "And where did you go to high school?" We can't directly ask "How important are you?" or "Where do you rank?", so city-by-city, as she explains, there are indirect codes and dodges for establishing these facts.
Her post is also built around the classic bit of Americana shown in the picture above, and it includes a fascinating interactive Esri map to let you see the sociologists' assessment of the areas where you grew up, live now, and went to high school. Worth checking out.
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