正巧，前两天在Wall Street Journal上看到一片文章A Desperate Need for Acceptance，说的是美国大学录取现在变得多么的荒谬。拿申请人的背景来说,前Dartmouth招生官员Michelle A. Hernandez的话说，最有可能进入名校的孩子，“Neither of your parents attended college at all, your father is a factory worker, and your mom is on disability. . . . ”。困难最大的孩子是“Your father went to Yale as an undergraduate and then Harvard/> Business/> School/>/> and is now an investment banker and your mom went to Brown, holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and works as a research chemist.” Michelle现在是一家College Consulting公司的老板，也是畅销书《Acing the College Application》的作者，建议说，在表明自己背景的时候要尽量模糊，例如如果你妈妈是医院的神经外科主任，你可以说Medical。
另外一个畅销书《What High Schools Don't Tell You》的作者Elizabeth Wissner-Gross说“A high-school student who gets good grades, serves as student body president and plays varsity football may be a remarkable person, but to an admissions officer his excellence may look rather conventional and diffuse. Better to cultivate a particular skill or enthusiasm. The ideal admissions-candidate is thus a prize-winning gymnast, a fluent reader of both Greek and Latin, a math champion, a successful entrepreneur or a violin virtuoso (all, ideally, with working-class parents, of course). ”正象这本书的副标题所说的，“300+ Secrets to Make Your Kid Irresistible to Colleges by Senior Year.”，她在书中提出了孩子要从Middle School就开始准备，而且要充分利用暑假，working in a local research lab, attending a math camp or trying to write the great American novel ，这样才能早日实现名校梦想。可是孩子不是需要玩吗？Elizabeth说，children who insist on hanging out with already known friends during the summer often miss out on wonderful opportunities. 是啊，buddies can be an obstacle if you care about getting into college.
Following are my comments on the following paragraph,
“A high-school student who gets good grades, serves as student body president and plays varsity football may be a remarkable person, but to an admissions officer his excellence may look rather conventional and diffuse. Better to cultivate a particular skill or enthusiasm. The ideal admissions-candidate is thus a prize-winning gymnast, a fluent reader of both Greek and Latin, a math champion, a successful entrepreneur or a violin virtuoso (all, ideally, with working-class parents, of course). ” (source: Elizabeth Wissner-Gross, What High Schools Don't Tell You: 300+ Secrets to Make Your Kid Irresistible to Colleges by Senior Year )
It is interesting and making sense. The statement is the conclusion of some observations based on who have been selected by good colleges, apparently. The reason that leads to this results is also obvious. The kids described in the later part of the paragraph are much more unique than those in the former part, which is indicating their unique mindsets and their intelligence. Therefore, they could be those trendsetters (trendsetters are someone who are innovative in some areas, for example fashion or technology. It is what I read about in Tipping Points) and they may lead breakthroughs. The former kids would fall into the categories of mainstream.
The most important part of this paragraph is not what these kids are, it lies in how to educate or provide an appropriate environment for your kids (since most of the readers of this book must be seeking solutions on this aspect). It seems the author has not yet suggested any solution above. The most straightforward one is to pick some oddy things for your kids, cultivate the enthusiasm, and train them. Maybe, providing tutorial on Latin could be popular in the future.
However, buying this book to look for solution is already too late for the education if your kids are about to apply for a college. Besides timing, there is a problem with the focus.All in all, to deliver your love to your kids, it is not about what a good college want. It is about what your kids want. If he/she can't stand with a life without something different everyday, just let them explore different things. In such case, Latin must be much more interesting than Spanish (the language the largest population speak in the world). If he/she feel comfortable with following what others do, just let him/her be a football player if he wants to. He could excel. There are no absolute answers and you kids, you, and the other member of your family would be better off if the environment is tailored in such a way that everybody is feeling comfortable and inspired in one way or another everyday.
It's the process of living intensely and with discipline inspired by those schools; not the schools themselves. If your kid is motivated better by anything else to achieve in life, school really doesn't matter. After all, they are just man-made idols.
But most kids are not for one reason or another. So one can't really blame pursuing good schools.
子女论坛有一位网友叫dudaan，据他自己讲，在他的辅导下，不下１０个孩子都得以成功进入名校，而且他自己也有意写一本书，来讲述这些名校生的成才故事。既然咱比较留意这方面的信息，而且这本书又是说咱华人孩子的，所以对这本书我一直报有很高的期望，希望里面能够透露一些教育孩子的秘技。可惜，前不久dudaan发帖说，这本书的出版计划搁浅了，具体原因吗，出人意料，居然是他收集的学生自述与自己最初的想法相去甚远。例如，有的孩子把能进入名校完全归于运气，说连自己都没有想到能进名校，还有的孩子说进名校完全是操作和包装的结果，更有甚者，一个孩子说招生过程充满了拉关系和弄虚作假的显现，学生为了上好大学千方百计讨好中学校长和利用校外关系。很多获奖的东西都有水分，有的甚至是家长手下的雇员做出来的。另外令人吃惊的是，这些孩子还透露了这些所谓的精英在高中的胡作非为。