Parents who didn’t grow up in the American system, and who may have moved to the U.S. in large part for their children’s education, feel desperate and in-the-dark. Some shell out tens of thousands of dollars for consultants as early as junior high.
People need to chill. There is more to life than “prestigious” schools.
You’re fighting a very large, well funded set of reinforced observations. Your neighbor’s daughter does a-z in terms of high school extra curriculars, does all the networking, etc etc etc… With your own eyes you’ll note they are in the near future making much more then you or I more “laid back” folks.
The question is, is it worth it? Can you actually stop to smell the roses? For what it’s worth, all I’d like is enough money to build my own house, and go on vacation once in a while. But we should all want to live a meaningful life.
I wonder how that works for them?
I think they point of afternoon action is that it can partially replace networking, just as being a white man use to. Not everyone needs to do all that, some have connections made from birth, some have the private tutoring for all the exams so studying takes half as long and they have more time to do those extra curriculars that look good. Affirmative action replaces some of the connections left over from being related to a white man who was born to wealth who could afford good schooling.
Lots of really awesome people with comparable gpa and extra cuticular apply to the same top schools. This just made it so that instead of primarily accepting those related to someone else who was previously privileged, others could experience a top school too, all else considered.
This reminds me of Sky Castle (except it’s middle class instead of rich doctors/lawyers).
