> Paul Graham's assertion that 'parents send their kids to private schools to improve university admission standards' does not guarantee that 'kids from public

> Paul Graham's assertion that 'parents send their kids to private schools to improve university admission standards' does not guarantee that 'kids from public schools are smarter than kids from private schools.' You are correct. However, it does mathematically guarantee that 'kids from public schools are smarter than kids from private schools at any given university (except, maybe, one of HYPMCS)' In any competitive market, from the perspective of a market actor, independent selected-for variables will appear to be inversely correlated.