@CU123, thank you! Very timely. I read the NYT and Washington Post this morning and found these two articles. There are pay walls, but the links should open for subscribers and anyone who has not reached their max of free articles.
The very sad story of the account of the Hamilton student is what I was saying that professors tell me about their students in general. Many are in deep distress–many more than previously–and parents very often have no idea. Professors have literally told me that large %'s of their students are struggling like this Hamilton student, and there parents show up at graduation and tell them how much their kids have enjoyed their experience at the school.
Regarding the Yale story, I guess you can get into Yale and then learn how to be happy and human.
I still think that even for those aspiring for Ivies and similar schools it unhealthy to take an approach that you are going to play the game full bore AND THEN RELAX. Does this seem like the best way for an individual to develop as a healthy, balanced human being? In the long run, that will overwhelmingly be the most important thing, not that a student will be attending Yale instead of some other very good school (because if a student is bright enough to get into Yale they’ll have other great choices).
And we are talking about 15- and 16-year-olds. I think back to when I was that age, and, jeez, I was a pretty normal kid, but a years-long goal of getting into a school with a sub 5% or sub 8% acceptance rate, where MANY hooked kids (athletes, URM candidates, very wealthy kids, very famous kids (presidents’ kids!)) will have an enormous advantage on me, with years of striving and pressure, where even a B is a significant setback, well, that might be stressful, and maybe would have kept me from doing just things, which have contributed to making my life successful and rewarding. I think I learned more taking a fishing boat out into the Atlantic with just my other high school friends and staying out all weekend, on the ocean, catching blues to use for bait to catch sharks. No adults around.
Is Yale, for example, worth it if one arrives as a stunted individual who has failed to develop many of the qualities necessary to navigate life in the modern world.
Everyone will find their level if they are allowed to grow and develop in a way that fully acknowledges and appreciates our fundamental humanity. And yes hard work is a very benefit part of that–I work hard–but a broader perspective is important.