Where once there were spaces at the Ivies and their ilk for ordinary extraordinary students, those mere mortals no longer make the grade. Getting an elite education is now all but reserved forÂ…Super People.
So argues the publishing executiveJames Atlas in a recent New York Times essay.
Who are these Super People? The recipients of a prestigious fellowship may give us some idea. Mr. Atlas writes: “[T]here doesn’t seem to be anyone…who hasn’t mastered at least one musical instrument; helped build a school or hospital in some foreign land; excelled at a sport; attained fluency in two or more languages; had both a major and a minor, sometimes two, usually in unrelated fields (philosophy and molecular science, mathematics and medieval literature); and yet found time…to enjoy such arduous hobbies as mountain biking and white-water kayaking.”
And itÂ’s not so very different with college applicants.
“It used to be that if you were editor of the paper or president of your class you could get in almost anywhere,” says Stephen Singer, the former director of college counseling at Horace Mann, a prestigious New York City private school. “Now it’s ‘What did you do as president? How did you make the paper special?’ Kids file stories from Bosnia or El Salvador on their summer vacations.”
Of course, kids canÂ’t do that without a lot of money. And this trend stems, in part, from the explosive growth in wealth at the very top of the income scale.
Admissions directors tell Mr. Atlas they’re wary of expensive résumé stuffing in place of real commitment or achievement. Still, given demographic trends that have multiple applicants with perfect or near-perfect grades and scores competing for a tiny number of slots, schools will continue to need some way of making ever-finer distinctions.
So, are my wife and I planning to raise a couple of Super People ourselves? Not explicitly. Our 10-year-old daughter, in fifth grade, is in her second year of Mandarin in her public magnet program, and it would be nice to see her continue it somehow when it’s no longer free. Our 7-year-old son, also bright, shows a lot of athletic promise. But we’re not being obsessive about developing their gifts—noTiger Parentingfor us.
Readers, have you seen the Super People trend in your children’s schools—or in your own family? For those of you whose children have recently gone through the college-admissions process, how did they do?
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment