<p>[Start</a> College Conversations Early, Experts Recommend - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/04/25/start-college-conversations-early-experts-recommend]Start”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/04/25/start-college-conversations-early-experts-recommend)</p>
<p>Start College Conversations Early, Experts Recommend</p>
<p>An early introduction to college is helpful if handled correctly.</p>
<p>Not sure where you’re coming from on this topic, Klements.</p>
<p>As a kid growing up, I don’t remember ever having specific conversations with my parents about going to college, but I do know that I understood that education was valued in our family, and that I would someday go to college. (And my parents were both the first in their families to go to college - my dad was the only son of wheat farmers in Kansas, and my mom was the daughter of Italian immigrants in a midwestern city.)</p>
<p>We have also taught our children that education is important, and that learning is a life-long joy. I would expect that they, too, have understood for many years that they will go to college some day. (And in our rural community, that is not necessarily something that their friends and classmates know is in their futures.) But it’s never been something that has been discussed according to a timetable, or some pre-planned strategy. Our conversations have happened pretty naturally, in the course of our day-to-day lives. </p>
<p>I think it’s great for kids to think about thelr future, and explore possibilities they might pursue many years down the road. But that’s different than “programming” them for college applications starting in elementary school!</p>
<p>“Did you have <air quotes=”"> THE TALK with Junior, yet?"</air></p>
<p>“No, I’m trying to avoid that conversation. I’m just leaving him copies of the USN&WR rankings on his pillow each year, figuring he’ll ask me questions if he has any.”</p>
<p>Dyer: To clarify, I object to the programming, but I will admit to more existential concerns about the felt need to undertake such grooming.</p>
<p>I think I share your objections, Klements. Parents should not be trying to mold their elementary school children into perfect college applicants.</p>
<p>I agree with mountainhiker. This article isn’t about molding kids into perfect college applicants; it’s about making going to college part of their repertoire. I have lots and lots of students whose parents never considered that their kids might go on to college–and it has hampered those kids in more ways than I can count.</p>