Lesser of two evils?

Is choice really a good thing? I ask because my youngest grandson - or to be more precise, his parents - have just been through the "what secondary schools shall we put him down for and in which order" dilemma (well, it's not really a dilemma in that there are more than two options, but you know what I mean). Wasn't life so much simpler when you just went to the local secondary school whether that was where you really wanted to go or not? I suppose if your choice really mattered, that would be a different thing, but as we are all aware that where he ends up is in the lap of the gods, and his parents' preferences play at best only a minor part, so-called choice just brings with it uncertainty and stress.