I've noticed something different about our eldest child since he left the small private K-8 school he attended for 9 years. Now that he's attending one of the largest public high schools in the state, I haven't seen his ears in weeks.
I admit there are a couple variables in play. We have the middle vs. high school thing. Then there's the private vs. public school thing. My observations indicate that missing ear syndrome is far more common in public middle schools, while most ears remain accounted for in private high schools. So this leads to my hypothesis. Our public schools ear retention programs aren't working. Lets learn from the successful ear retention programs in our private schools. Whatever they're doing, it works.