I used a token and a transfer to get to St. Joe's Prep which was and still to a lesser extent is in the deep ghetto - in 9th, 10th, and part of 11th grade. I actually regret getting a car and ending my use of SEPTA once I got my license, as it really ended my exposure to people I enjoyed seeing. I feel that taking the bus to high school was a character building experience.

In order for a school to be elite, it must ipso facto be able to cull the chaff and only keep the wheat. The suburban public schools do this by the finances of the parents, which is a very inefficient separator. The private and elite city schools use the intellect of the child, which is a much more efficient separator, allowing for greater socio-economic and racial diversity. My high school was amazingly diverse, with every ZIP code in the city represented in my graduating class, and most suburban ZIP codes also. It was also a nice class mixture. Until the suburban public schools offer scholarships to kids from poorer municipalities and start excluding kids whose intellects are less keen they will always be inferior to the best that the private and city schools have to offer.