The accounts presented by Jelani Cobb in The Life and Death are truly insightful, especially concerning an institution that I have personally dealt with in my years on high school sports team. I remember traveling to Jamaica High School and compete with their teams during swimming meets. I’ve heard about the underperforming stories of Jamaica High School and the first thing that I noticed was the metal detectors they had put up in the entrance of the building – usually not a very great indicator we want to see as visiting team. I think Jamaica High School’s road downhill is an inevitable result of mini-migration of talents. Schools mostly receive their incoming student populations from the surrounding neighborhoods; Jamaica naturally receives a lot more of the students who are not proficient in English because of its unique geography. It’s quite easy for them to feel neglected because it’s such a large institution and resources or attention might not be focused on them, resulting in the particular student body lagging behind in terms of progress. On the other hand, families who have accumulated their savings also moved to wealthier neighborhoods within other parts of Queens, invigorating the closest high schools with students who have extra resources such as prep-schools at their disposal  Then, once a school carries a mixed reputation, parents tend to send their kids elsewhere, not to mention that Townsend Harris and York High School are right around the corner competing for the best and the brightest. People who end up in Jamaica are reluctant to be there and eager to transfer out, which lead to the inevitable closure of the high school in the end.