"In the course of doing the research for this book I became convined that, however well intended, social scientists' statistical pictures of formal schooling inhibit our appreciation of how fundamentally schooling organizes Amercian society. The organization of formal schooling in this country influences where people live and how they raise their children. It influences how they spend their money and go into debt. It dictates the rhythms of daily, weekly, and annual calendars. It gives people authoritative directions about how to plot their futures. It tells people figure out who they are in relation to others. It influences when and with whom they fall in love. Social scientists are not unaware of these things——they are citizens and parents and lovers themselves, after all——but their affection for numbers often makes it difficult for them to squeeze the big picture into their research designs."