That's one monster thread with a lot of interesting perspectives! I would imagine that most of the parents here know their viewpoints on the various issues and are unlikely to change them.
I read the McClean article and couldn't find any common ground with the derided trends, probably because my younger kids are only in 5th grade at this point. In our house, the kids are underscheduled (at their demand) and homework is completed whle waiting in the car pick-up lane and straight A+ are automatic without studying. That could all change by high school or even middle school. We'll see.
Actually, my thought today has more to do with the end-goal of the "parenting arms race". I graduated from an Ivy and DH from an Ivy equivalent a couple of decades ago. Notwithstanding these legacy advantages, I doubt that my children will end up at an Ivy (or equivalent) based on the perhaps even crazier competition in seven years. For a number of reasons, I am not even sure that I would nudge them toward our alma maters. However, I have one fifth-grader who has started asking about elite colleges and SAT scores, etc. None of this came from his parents. When I gave him the SAT math sections a year ago to gauge that he was around 600 with pre-algebra, I purposely hid that it was the SAT as well as his score. I have also decided against registering him for the SAT so far notwithstanding that I think he should be at that 700 mark by now having completed algebra (SET was the original reason for gauging/considering SAT at this young age). For some reason, DS' algebra teacher had some discussions regarding colleges with him and has been giving him a few SAT problems each week. I don't know if anyone else brought up the issue with him. Anyhow, I am getting the vibes from DS that he would like to attend one of those top tier colleges. This is the same child who has been asking about career options and making big money - it almost makes me feel inadequate somehow (LOL) because money has never been the focus in our household.
How would you respond if your child indicates a desire to attend a top-tier college? Would you encourage him? Would you bring him down to earth given the level of competition?
Last edited by Quantum2003; 04/02/14 08:21 AM.
