http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR2008052601742.html?wpisrc=newsletter
http://s.wsj.net/article/SB121158515508718929.html?mod=fpa_mostpop
The Wall Street Journal on Sat. and the POST today both have articles that share a common theme...the pressure on America's high school students (specifically juniors/rising seniors) to succeed. I don't think those who are not in or haven't been in the educational environment, or have children in their teens, get it. There is TONS of pressure on today's generation of high school students to a success early in life, and much of that pressure is applied by schools, teachers, parents, and even themselves. First, from the POST article: There is nothing strange about these stories: Since the university admissions process is unbelievably fraught, readers of newspapers, many of whom might have college-bound children, naturally find the stories engrossing. But there is also a weird way in which these stories, and the very real national conversation that inspires them, reflect a kind of schizophrenia in American ideas about education, one that I didn't fully appreciate until moving abroad.
Without question, Americans, whether wealthy or just upwardly mobile, are nowadays obsessed with preparing their children for a super-competitive, globalized job market. They will therefore go a long way -- switching neighborhoods, borrowing money, creating color-coded spreadsheets -- to get their children into high schools that force them to study and that test them regularly.
Those who play the game most intensively are often rewarded: The child who takes 15 Advance Placement courses, plays the clarinet in three orchestras, runs a Cambodian refugee camp in the summer and eschews lunch all winter really does have a better chance of getting into college than the child who plays kickball after school in the empty lot next door.
Yet, at the same time, the parents of many driven children, having been raised on "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Little House on the Prairie," retain a kind of nostalgia for a pre-industrial America, one in which childhood involved breaking horses and building rafts, in which "schooling" was optional, and in which dropping out was a romantic option. Often layered on top of this collective memory is a rose-colored recollection of their own high school experience, a "Happy Days" whirl of sports, proms and dates. Today's children always seem to be working harder than yesterday's children, having less fun and taking more tests, at least according to everyone I know.
And the Journal article:As she moves from class to class, the demands of being a junior pile up. Honors Spanish -- 30 minutes of homework a night. Advanced-placement English -- 30 to 90 minutes a night, depending on which books or documents the class is studying. Honors pre-calculus -- another hour of homework. Honors biology -- 30 minutes more. At the end of the day comes Ms. Glickman's favorite class and her toughest -- advanced-placement history, with two hours of homework a night, including reading and regular essays.
Total: an average of four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half hours of homework a night.
"Sometimes at school I will stress out when I start adding up everything I have to do tonight," says Ms. Glickman. She typically goes to sleep at 11:30 p.m., though sometimes she needs to stay up later to finish a project or study for a big test. "There's not a lot of sleep going on," she says. Her 98 average ranks near the top of her class, school officials say. "I need to put in all the effort possible," she says. "If I get a grade back that I don't want, I say, 'Why didn't I work harder?' "
As Ms. Glickman heads off to a study hall, a group of juniors gathers in a conference room to talk about the pressures they face. Many are taking two or three advanced-placement courses, playing sports and spending time on after-school activities.
"Sometimes you don't know whether you are doing things because you want to or because it looks good on your résumé," says Daniel Jin, who is taking four advanced-placement courses, plays lacrosse, is on student council and involved in an after-school community-service program. "You have to be careful you're not doing things just to get them on your college application."
Kevin Putney has a brother at Dartmouth. He says his brother finds college less pressured than junior year of high school. "I know that my parents -- they want me to be happy. They would like me to get out more," he says. "But with all the work I have I can't get out as much as they would like."
Students say that while parents may tell them to have more balance in their lives, they also feel pressure from parents to excel. "If you get good grades, your parents let you do things -- a car when you get a license, a later curfew," says Kelsey Darch, who has gotten both.
Todd Darch, Kelsey's father, says that getting his daughter a car means less driving for him as well as "a reward for good grades and good behavior." He says he only asks that his daughter "put her best effort forward. If her best effort meant a C in a course, that would be fine."
"Every week or so my Dad sends me a text message: 'Do what others won't today so you can do what others can't tomorrow,' " says Jordan Haviland. "My parents have been so good to me, I feel like I would be letting them down if I didn't get into an Ivy League school."
Mr. Haviland's father, Timothy, says he doesn't press his son to get into a certain college, although he suspects Jordan does feel pressure because his older brother goes to Harvard and his older sister to Brown.
"I think he probably wants to keep up," says Mr. Haviland, who works for an investment company. "These kids put a fair amount of pressure on themselves. They read the papers and go on the Internet and they see how many students are applying to some of these schools."
Some students say that pressure comes from inside themselves as much as it does from parents. "The whole game is who is beating [whom]," says Spencer Noon, looking across the table at Mr. Jin with a smile. "In the end, if I don't get into Harvard and Dan Jin does, I will be upset."
Both of these articles are worthy reads, simply for the reminder factor...our kids can only handle so much...they're only young once...and if most of them get a college education from somewhere, more than likely they'll find a good job and be OKAY...Someone please send me a link to this post in a decade if things haven't gotten any less stressful for high school students by then. I hope the culture changes.
