@LesterP:  I don't claim to know all the reasons, but one major reason why people attach importance to high schools is because some employers tend to hire folks that went to the same school as they did (I understand this from a pride perspective, but from a logical standpoint, it makes little sense to choose an employee based on that criteria alone).  Another reason is when you have a kid from a poor family that had the opportunity to go to a private school like Kamehameha, Punahou, or Iolani, it's a big thing because there are more college opportunities to folks that go to these schools versus some public schools and if they work hard, some of them can actually pull their families out of poverty into the middle class or better if they end up with a good job.