Reply to Why Affluent Parents Put So Much Pressure on Their Kids

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[quote=Anonymous]A follow up to the bay area gunn high suicide article that just came out in the atlantic.

This is article is tailor made for dcum.

Gunn Article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-silicon-valley-suicides/413140/

The one this post is about: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/pressure-affluent-parents/417045/

It is really simple why this is the case:

[quote]But that does little to answer the question of why there is so much pressure in the first place. It turns out that there is a pretty straightforward—and ultimately very troubling—answer: It’s because the[b] competition for a place among the country’s well-off is so vicious. [/b]To secure one of those spots, kids must gain admission to a relatively small number of elite colleges and universities, which “essentially did not grow but rather became increasingly selective” since the 1970s. (By contrast, in Canada, where higher education “lacks a steep prestige hierarchy,” the admissions competition is less dire.)[/quote]

[quote]If you’re a doctor, lawyer, or MBA—you can’t pass those on to your kids[/quote]

How sick is this line of thinking from one soccer mom (I don't blame her, it is a sickness in the structure of the culture and economy):

[quote]s one soccer parent told Friedman during her research on parenting in such a competitive culture, “I think it’s important for [my son] to understand that [being competitive] is not going to just apply here, it’s going to apply for the rest of his life. It’s going to apply when he keeps growing up and he’s playing sports, when he’s competing for school admissions, for a job, for the next whatever.” Friedman concludes, “Such an attitude prepares children for winner-take-all settings like the school system and lucrative labor markets.”[/quote]

[quote]The pressure on kids may come from parents, but [b]it’s the result of systemic forces so much bigger and so much more powerful than anything any household has control over.[/b]

In a sense, [b]what wealthy parents are doing is working. There is very little social mobility in America, up or down[/b], and most of those born into the richest and best-educated households will someday run their own high-earning, highly educated households.[/quote]

I posted a similar comment a year or two ago in the ocllege section regarding how much of the desire to go to an ivy (and ivy peers) is to truly go to said school or learn from a particular department and how much of it is the access it confers.

I.E. if every elite employer suddenly said that for four years they will only take grads from schools ranked 100-200 and none from the ivy, would you see students en masse shift their preferences?

Now it iseems to be fleshed out - the answer is yes.

I think this pathology is what makes umc strivers the most insufferable people. Many times more so than the ignorant lumpenproletariat or the asshole ultra rich (though most ultra rich i know are actually pretty nice - probably because they are so comfortable in leisure).

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