Still, the suburban private schools, like their city cousins, survive on the qualities that set them apart from public schools: small classes, flexibility, extracurricular activities, sophisticated courses.
For the High Line promenade, a sophisticated three-course "pique-nique" is being offered by Bagatelle (left), a French restaurant just steps from a park entrance.
A late lunch here satisfies my hunger, and I don't have to pay eight times as much for the sophisticated three-courses with wines at Montmartre.
On the one hand, if schools like Harvard and Stanford become the Starbucks and Peet's of higher education, offering sophisticated branded courses at the campus nearest you, bright students at all levels will have access.
Fine dining Swinton Park's restaurant, in North Yorkshire (01765 680900; swintonpark.com), offers a sophisticated three-course vegetarian Garden Produce Menu for £52 per person, made from ingredients sourced from the hotel's walled garden and estate.
As well as Lasai, we have Olympe, owned by the chef who pioneered the fusion of Brazilian and French cuisines; Roberta Sudbrack, with a bistro feel and sophisticated, eight-course tasting menu.
If you want to impress your guests (or be impressed) consider a meal at Mathias Dahlgren in the Grand Hotel, where Stockholm's most celebrated chef offers sophisticated eight-course menus served in the elegant Dining Room.
For example, will we still need so many teachers in the decades to come if the cream of the profession can produce increasingly sophisticated online courses that millions of students can take?
And, of course, sophisticated delivery systems aren't required for a chemical or biological attack.
And of course, sophisticated delivery systems are required for a chemical or biological attack.
