"Where did you go to high school?"

This is a frequent question in the St. Louis area, so frequent a college professor is going to research it.

What's to research?

Where you went to high school told a lot about you.

I went to Roosevelt. If you went to McKinley, Cleveland or Southwest, you were probably white, from a middle income family and perhaps college bound. Southwest was built when I was at Roosevelt.

If you were from Beaumont, you might have been an athlete.

A guy named Bud Schwenk tore up the rest of the league, went on to star at Washington U. and did a brief hitch in the NFL.

If you went to Soldan, you might be Jewish or have ties to the Jewish community.

If you went to Central, you went to the first city high school. I worked with a Central graduate who was very bright. Central athletes wore "H's on their letter sweaters that stood for high school.

If you went to Vashon or Summner, you were black. City high schools were segregated in those days.

If you went to St. Louis U. High, McBride or CBC you were probably Catholic and came from families affluent enough to pay tuition.

We have breakfast once a week with a St. Mary's graduate. He is one of the brightest and best educated guys we know.

We don't know much about all those county high schools except two.

Our sons went to Bayless and got good enough educations to enter and graduate from universities. Our grandchildren and great grandchildren attend or attended Lindbergh district schools, one of the better districts, I am told.

So much on research on "where did you go to high school?"

My two sisters went to St. Elizabeth's Academy at Louisiana and Arsenal. They were not Catholic, but they received fine educations and made lifelong friends.

Friend Wife went to Bloomington, Ill., high school, one of four high schools in her home town.

I don't know much about her school, but she is brighter than I am.

Jim Fox, a retired newspaperman who lives in Affton, writes a weekly column for the Journals.