One can learn a lot about a place by looking at its schools. The National Center for Education Statistics (a World Almanac favorite) has an online search page where you can look up any U.S. public or private school in any district and get, among other bits of information, a small demographic breakdown by race and sex of the students who go there.

After rediscovering this search, of course I had to go look up every school I had either gone to, wanted to go to, or otherwise had heard of for one reason or another (such as California's Torrance High School, where they shot the exteriors for Beverly Hills, 90210). It was fun trying to remember what I could about the different kids in my classes and if the current data shows any change since then. In my case, it looks like there is a good deal more diversity today in the schools I went to as compared to when I was a wee tot. That says quite a bit about the changes in population where I grew up, which I'm sure are minor compared to other school districts.

National Center for Education Statistics links:
Search for Public Schools
Search for Private Schools

Photo from Night Owl City's Flickr stream (CC)