I thought the summary was more relevant to our Tiger Mom topic.
It can be tempting, particularly if you don’t happen to be raising children in one of the hothouse communities Dr. Luthar studies, to dismiss this hyper-education as a frivolous, albeit painful, form of conspicuous consumption, like cosmetic surgery or flashy cars. But the truth is that these parents and children are responding rationally to a hyper-competitive world economy.
Dr. Luthar thinks it is reasonable to be a Tiger mom, to make your children as good as they can possibly be so that they can achieve and succeed and do well.
Chris Everett talked about how she was not a natural athlete. She has to really work at being good at tennis. Work harder than others. And she succeeded until she had to compete with a natural athlete who also worked at it and was better.
It is no different for these kids who are trying to shine in what Luthar calls
increasingly fierce winner-take-all forces, which means the winners’ circle is ever smaller, and the value of winning is ever higher
