Quote
I would be unhappy if my children were not in the top group in each subject.

Why?

I'm seriously puzzled by that statement; after all, my daughter is an indifferent athlete (and that might be generous), so I would hardly be "upset" if she didn't make the varsity team.

It wouldn't really be an appropriate placement, after all, once one sets aside the prestige.

It's not that I haven't run into this line of thinking-- but that I don't understand it very well. I've always assumed that parents in our town with this set of beliefs were using their kids and their accomplishments as a kind of status/self-image booster, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

I'm pretty sure that isn't Bostonian's rationale, so now I'm curious.


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.