From Cookson & Persell's `Preparing For Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools'--Part 9

In their 1985 book, Preparing For Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools, Peter W. Cookson Jr. and Cardine Hodges Persell wrote the following about the U.S. power elite's private school and elite prep school educational system and its undemocratic admissions process:

“Foreign students are as affluent as the Americans, as are the Asian-American students in our sample. Among black students, there are also affluent families, 15 percent come from $100,000 or more [in 1981] a year homes…A wealthy group of students come from Jewish homes, 41 percent having incomes of $100,000 a year or more [in 1981]…

“…50 percent of the fathers are professionals and 40 percent are managers. Specifically, 12 percent of our sample’s fathers are doctors, 10 percent are attorneys, and 9 percent are bankers…Slightly more than one-third of…mothers are professionals and 1 in 8 are managers or administrators…

“…On average, 7 percent of American boarding school students are non-citizens…Many of these students come from high-income families in the Middle East, South America and Asia…

“…`Legacy’ students create a critical mass at many boarding schools, especially at the Episcopal, girls and academy schools whose student bodies are between 55 and 75 percent legacy students…”