I think the connection is stronger than that. The jocks-rule culture of American high school is purloined from elite British schools, which were designed to cra

I think the connection is stronger than that. The jocks-rule culture of American high school is purloined from elite British schools, which were designed to crank out colonial functionaries with intense in-group loyalties. Alex Renton's book Stiff Upper Lip is good on this. In fact, while it is perhaps unsurprising that Rall has missed examples in Chinese and Indian languages listed elsewhere here, it's odd that he misses the many examples in British English - swot, spod, boffin ... Several of which originate in 'good' schools.