Young, Gifted, and Not Getting Into Harvard - New York Times

Young, Gifted, and Not Getting Into Harvard - New York Times

This short story describes rather well the difference between today's college-bearing kids and those when I was finishing my high school years. Recently it seems a lot has been in the media about how pressured adult adolescents are at being over-successful, much of which is a matter of class and income.

As for myself, I took the SAT the end of my junior year. That was it as far as college resume crafting went. No Kaplan review, not even a pre-SAT, no tutors, only 2 AP classes (biology and european history - but I didn't take any of the AP exams). I played sports every season and was involved with the music and drama department. I played in a rock band. I didn't work really at all during summer. Life was pretty easy-going for a high school kid back then when you look at how middle and upper-class kids are raised today. Of course we were on the bottom end of middle class I think. Probably I would have been pressured a little more to achieve if my parents had been professionals, or at least college degrees for known schools.

The bottom line, however, is that the competition for achievement that we push for in our kids today is more for us than them. It is placing our fantasies and insecurities on their shoulders while robbing them of the freedom to be who they really want to be.