I would argue that the American school system in general is bankrupt. But of all the states, Connecticut ranks #4 in the best states for education. CT is one of the richest states, and plenty of money goes towards the constant improvement of education. However, these resources are not always spread evenly, and some schools have fallen behind.
Source:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education
On the same page, it's mentioned that Phil graduated from Bassick High School in Brideport, which has a reputation for being a complete shithole and is quite possibly the worst high school in the state.
I found an article about Bassick High School entitled "Connecticut's Shame: In One of America's Richest Counties, a High School Has Been Failing for 50 Years".
A 1961 quote from the now defunct
Bridgeport Sunday Herald mentions the "sharp contrast between private opulence and public squalor" that existed in Bridgeport half a century ago and continues today. For many years, students of Bassick were forced to buy their own books, science equipment, globes, and maps. Since Americans are entitled to free K-12 public education, these costs are not typical.
In 50 years, things have only gone downhill for Bassick. Teachers are still not given the resources to do their job properly. In America, we have the controversial Common Core standards for language and mathematics. In 2015, 15% of Bassick's students reached proficiency in language, while zero reached mathematics proficiency. In 2013, the advocacy group ConnCan gave Bassick an F in all academic categories.
Bassick is also an incredibly violent environment. Recently, ten students were arrested in one day for fighting. Bridgeport in consistently labeled one of the most dangerous cities in America due to the frequency of violent crimes.
Source:
https://www.the74million.org/articl...-a-high-school-has-been-failing-for-50-years/
We've established that Phail was not valedictorian at Fairfield University. But what about Bassick? Like those Kiwis who've researched before me, I was unable to pull up any listing of Bassick valedictorians.
If one were to find the information, it would likely be found in back issues of
The Connecticut Post. The online archives of the paper only date back to 2001, as indicated by the website's search engine:
http://www.ctpost.com/archives/
A particularly ambitious Kiwi would have to go into the city, head to a library, and view the pertinent microfilm to either confirm or deny Phail's claim of being a Bassick valedictorian, which we've established is not an impressive feat.