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Feeding the Elite: The Evolution of Elite Pathways from Star High Schools to Elite Universities

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Abstract

During the last 50 years, private ‘feeder’ schools in Japan came to dominate entry into elite colleges. Intense organizational competition shaped the organizational environment and changed the pathways available to social elites. Compared to Japan, elite private feeders in the US have failed to dominate pathways into elite colleges.

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Notes

  1. This represents an informal segmentation of part of the secondary system that is already formally segmented into non-college bound high schools (technical, commercial, industrial, etc. high schools, and academic (college-bound) high schools).

  2. For the most recent data on feeder schools at Tokyo and Kyoto University, seehttp://www.biwa.ne.jp/~syuichi/toudai-ranking.htmlhttp://www.biwa.ne.jp/~syuichi/kyodai-ranking.html

  3. The term ‘prep school’ is used differently in both Britain and France. In Britain, the term means private elite schools that enroll students aged 8 to 13 years and link to the ironically named British ‘public schools,’ which are also elite and private. French preparatory schools (Classes Preparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles) are also elite, selective institutions, but are largely public and enroll students aged 19–21 years.

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LeTendre, G., Gonzalez, R. & Nomi, T. Feeding the Elite: The Evolution of Elite Pathways from Star High Schools to Elite Universities. High Educ Policy 19, 7–30 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300108

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