Last night I ran into a parent who has a child in my DD's class. She asked me where DD will go to middle school. When I told her that DD would be going to a different middle school than her child, she said "Good, that reduces the competition for [X]. [X] really wants to be the smartest kid at [the middle school]." She then went on to say that she knows our kids will be competing for one of 40 full-ride scholarships for in-state tuition when they get to high school. I told her that I'm just happy that middle school is settled and will worry about the college scholarship stuff later.
To be honest, I cringed at this conversation. I have no idea how our kids compare academically. With DD, we've never really talked about other students as competitors. I've focused on getting DD around other smart kids and wanting her to have intellectual peers. Then I thought about this woman's kid who comes off as super confident (and competitive) then I thought about my kid who is modest to a fault and is reluctant to tell people about her abilities. I wonder if I have gone too far in the opposite direction.
Do you encourage your kids to be academically competitive?
