in 'socially advantaged' neighbourhoods. Parents will pull all manner of stunts including "grandmother's address" using a friends address to qualify for a spot. They are required to bring ID + hydro bills and the like to get in. My favourite, having taught in one school like this, was that one of the 'maids children' had a little difficulty getting in even though lived in. There must have been something similar in York in your York years although housing is much more evenly distributed by class. No doubt a poor student in a middle class school is more likely to do well than a poor student in a poor school. This was the theory behind " bussing" in the USA but, Americans can't seem to think in class terms so they think in race terms. It'd be useful to indicate who is being quoted so we can determine how legit they are. I suspect "middle class areas" don't all quotet the same line, sorta like a teacher telling us what "teachers" believe.... While for some -- fly by night just show up, pay the money and you'll get a better mark -- the term "diploma mills" would apply there are others where the standards are higher than at public schools. By the way, in GTA the rumour is that summer courses at public high schools give higher grades easier than the regular courses. High school students try to choose to take their credit courses with the teachers that give higher marks