This past year I’ve felt the need to give a couple of reality checks (in fact, one this week). I don’t try and do it to hurt a kid’s self-esteem, but, with this week’s case, the kid hasn’t returned, so the kid may be feeling hurt. But when kids with superlative backgrounds denigrate themselves (particularly in the title of a thread), it makes me think about all the other kids who may or may not be reading who are thinking to themselves, “Dang, if that person’s not awesome, then I must really be cruddy.”
So I guess I’ve taken it as a “potentially hurt one person to help many more” philosophy, because I hope that not only will they make changes here, but changes in their communications on Discord or Reddit or wherever they go in life. Because when I read about the mental health crisis of our youth, I can’t help but feel that superlative kids putting themselves down can’t be good for anyone (superlative kids or anyone less well-credentialed).
And then there are the kids that only have the budget for a $ school, but all the schools they’re looking at will cost them $$$$, and there is no path to affordability. I think it is a kindness to give those kids a reality check. Or the kid with above average stats and rigor (understanding that an average GPA is about a 3.1 and an average SAT is about 1000), but not superlative stats and rigor, who is targeting schools with a single-digit acceptance rate. Helping to re-orient that kid toward schools with a better likelihood of admission is a kindness in my book, not a poor use of our time.