Reply to Emotional needs of our students

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "Emotional needs of our students"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a question. Does graduating from a top 20 college truly change a person's life?

If not perhaps we should turn down a degree or two the high school pressure cooker which is currently sending out the message to many that life if not worth living without an Ivy League degree.

But back to my original question and I am sincere in asking it. Will a degree from a top 20 college under normal circumstances all other things being equal, significantly improve the quality of ones life?[/quote]

Of course not.  Look at it this way, I happen to be the product of the "best" nursery school in NYC and stayed on that track through to an Ivy League college and grad school.  My DH is the product of regular public school and a non top 20 college.  If $$$ is the measure, he outearns me considerably.  Otherwise, I'd say we're equally happy (at least I hope so!).  All his college friends also have very nice lives (extravagantly paid i-banker, ifi banker, movie "star" - ok the last one is not really a star, but he makes a living and seems happy).  And the people from my string of prestigious educational institutions seem to be all over the map in terms of happiness and successful careers,  Clearly, this is anecdotal, but no one is doomed to a salt mine by not attending an Ivy.

[/quote]

Thanks for responding. I feel if doing and achieving the requisite things necessary to be accepted to a top 20 school come to an individual somewhat naturally then by all means they should. However, if a person needs to go to the extreme measures changing themselves to the point if contorting themselves into the shape of a pretzel to gain admission then the psychological and social sacrifices are too great. You know a banker and I know others as well who have found happiness taking less established routes to success.

For students who are on Top 20 track, I wonder how much pressure they place on themselves?  I also wonder about peer pressure. I guess having watched enough movies like "The Paper Chase", I should know that high achieving individuals can be as cruel as anyone else, but I still want to believe that smart people are smart enough to realize they too have weaknesses and as a result have empathy for others. I wonder if kids on top 20 track are supportive of their peers or if it's such a competetive space that they savor the disappointments of others?  If what I'm suggesting does actually exist does it trickle down and permeate the fabric of entire high schools like the ones which have been scrutinized this week?  Can academic competition in high schools become so culturally toxic that it affects every strata of students regardless the long term goals of individual students?

In a schools of high achievers do those high achievers have inflated egos and do lower achieving students suffer from low self-esteem?

My string of consciousness really got away from me this time!

Thanks[/quote]

My DC is in a very competitive HS surrounded by extremely driven kids and I noticed that the kids are not very empathetic and very competitive. They are focused on future professions, income etc. for themselves and often discuss how much money their parents make.

It seems the kids are very focused on maximizing their chances for making lot of money and they figure getting into one of the top colleges and grad school/med school etc. will lead to making good money and thus the need for high GPA, high SAT score, officer positions, outstanding ECs, adequate volunteer hours and the most rigorous courses possible as required by top colleges. This creates lot of stress. I also noticed something that is somewhat controversial. One of the kid is Hispanic and he supposedly said that he doesn't have to have the above and he only needs "ABC" GPA to get into one of the top colleges so he was counting himself lucky.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics