Help! College issues with Ivy league son

nrtlax33
Thu, 12 Jul 2018 22:03:57 +0000

Speaking of “Lake Wobegoners” ( @calmom ), according to Wiki:

The Lake Wobegon effect, a natural human tendency to overestimate one’s capabilities, was coined by Professor David G Myers in honour of the fictional town. The characterization of the fictional location, where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average,” has been used to describe a real and pervasive human tendency to overestimate one’s achievements and capabilities in relation to others. To support the view that people in general need to believe that they are above average (the Lake Wobegon effect) one author points out that in a survey of high school students, only 2 percent of the students reported that they were below average in leadership ability. ”

Especially in top-tier schools, since everyone was the big fish from where one comes from, the Lake Wobegon effect can disorient freshman students quickly. Most freshman classes are curved. So someone will be below the mean score. To parents and Ivies aspired, have you thought about your (kid’s) reaction if he/she happened to be the one below the mean score? At my kid’s school, some students are flaunting “Arc’teryx”, “Givenchy”, etc. (I have never heard of before), maybe academics is the thing some kids cling to to be proud of themselves. Once that is taken away, some kids might develop mental problem.