Who said anything about ORGANIZED skimming? It's not organized, and I never said it was. I said, "selection bias." People who send their kids to private schools tend to be people who are from a higher socioeconomic stratum (which corresponds positively with good schooling outcome), and further people who care about their kids schooling (which I would have to imagine also corresponds the same way). Take kids who fall into this bracket. Even in the public schools they are going to test out near or at the top. Put them into a private school, all together, with nobody from the poorer socioeconomic strata, with few or no special needs kids to suck money away from the mainstream curriculum. Boy howdy, they do better. Big surprise.

I never said anything about a conspiracy. I don't believe in conspiracies; it's you right-wingers that have THAT stick up your patoots, not us lefties.

Alex