[TrumpCard]

I completely agree with everything you say. I have a nephew at CPSLO, and he’s a smart kid with big goals. 

But I’ll take the opportunity to spin things a different way for the tiger parents out there. 

In the US, there are ~4 million kids of any given age. There are ~40,000 seats at the top 20 private schools combined. Those ~40,000 seats go disproportionately to kids graduating from elite private schools. Some public magnets get seats as well. 

I tell my kids that it’s fine to not shoot for Stanford or other top school. But if they want to go to an elite school, then they should set interim goals that put them in the ballpark, else they set themselves up for disappointment. 

In a graduating high school class of 500 at a non-magnet public school, there might be 2 other kids going to a top 20 private school. That’s for the whole top 20, not for the top ~5, which is a more realistic group for kids hoping to go to Stanford.  In that context, it doesn’t make sense to calibrate their interim academic goals based on what other kids in that type of school are doing. For kids in non-magnet public schools, getting into Stanford means setting goals in a different league from everyone else and completely tuning out the talk that they hear from other kids.

[TrumpCard]

I completely agree with everything you say. I have a nephew at CPSLO, and he’s a smart kid with big goals. 

But I’ll take the opportunity to spin things a different way for the tiger parents out there. 

In the US, there are ~4 million kids of any given age. There are ~40,000 seats at the top 20 private schools combined. Those ~40,000 seats go disproportionately to kids graduating from elite private schools. Some public magnets get seats as well. 

I tell my kids that it’s fine to not shoot for Stanford or other top school. But if they want to go to an elite school, then they should set interim goals that put them in the ballpark, else they set themselves up for disappointment. 

In a graduating high school class of 500 at a non-magnet public school, there might be 2 other kids going to a top 20 private school. That’s for the whole top 20, not for the top ~5, which is a more realistic group for kids hoping to go to Stanford.  In that context, it doesn’t make sense to calibrate their interim academic goals based on what other kids in that type of school are doing. For kids in non-magnet public schools, getting into Stanford means setting goals in a different league from everyone else and completely tuning out the talk that they hear from other kids.