<p>super.nova and shoebox:</p>
<p>First, I’m not at all impressed by your whining about your workload in the FCPS. It’s tough, but not tougher than many other school systems. I have sent my children to high schools that regularly send academic teams in many disciplines to victory in national and international contests. A very high percentage of those graduates attends the nation’s most selective schools. My children have had access to millions of books and periodicals at a major research library. If they needed help with physics, they went next door to talk to our neighbor and good friend who also happens to be a Nobel Laureate (and he makes a heckuva salsa). If they wanted feedback on a creative writing project, they could get it from the novelist who lives two blocks down.</p>
<p>Here is what I have told them about all this privilege (paraphrased, of course).</p>
<p>"You are very, very lucky. You live in a household where both your parents have earned Ph.Ds. You have grown up with an extremely rich vocabulary that has given you a huge advantage when learning and mastering reading. You have heard us talk in mathematical terms all your lives, and grew up thinking of math as just one more language to master. For the most part, you have mastered it.</p>
<p>If you had problems in school, you got the best tutoring. If you wanted to pursue sports, you had coaches of national reputation. If you were fascinated by science, you got to help with research in the lab of a Nobel Laureate. If you wanted to be on stage, you were trained by teachers whose students have won five Tony Award nominations.</p>
<p>You are also lucky in that most of the other kids you will see in class are as privileged as you. They will provide exceptional competition to help you sharpen your minds. Your thinking skills will be pushed to greater and greater focus because of them. Your athletic skills will be honed by their excellence.</p>
<p>You will compete with these other children for success. When it comes time to go to college, you may not get into your college of choice if you don’t compete successfully, but that’s OK. You are already way, way ahead of most children, and the skills you learn cannot be taken away from you. Whatever college you attend will suit your purposes just fine."</p>
<p>I don’t think that any of my children feel (or felt) entitled like the two of you seem to.</p>