This paper discusses the controversial issue of educational resource allocation for the purpose of improving educational standards in secondary schools. The current dilemma is whether educational resources should be directed to increasing school-based resources or directed to supporting teacher training. The paper controversially argues that both positions are non-optimal. It briefly presents the methodological framework of a 4-year ethnographic study conducted in Fiji in the South Pacific. Based on data from the study, it argues that educational outcomes are fundamentally influenced by social and cultural factors. In particular, the closer a community's educational values are to their sociocultural values, the higher that community's educational attainments will be. Hence, higher educational standards are more likely to be achieved by matching the learning culture with the social culture--the tighter the fit, the higher the resulting educational standards will be. Thus, the focus of the controversy should not lie in prioritizing educational resource allocation to either school-based resources or teacher training, but rather in determining the best use for those resources. The ensuing controversy, then, is whether to change the social culture to match the demands of formal education or to change the demands of formal education to match the social culture. Contains a table and 46 references. (BT)