Ella fitzgerald singing Cole Porter is divine. And OK-- Cole Porter went to Yale.
Competition is useful and realistic in certain contexts. A better school will tend to prepare the attendee for the standard presentations and may give an edge up with competitiveness. And of course a prodigy will tend to do well in any circumstance, and may come to an epiphany in less than perfect circumstances. But it’s sort of like having money in the bank, or not having any – more money has evident advantages if the surplus is not mishandled.
Was there some talk about kids who go to some elite school somehow winding up on the 50 yard line of some hypothetical running course? It’s nice that every one of them miraculously appeared there through no effort of their own.
@romanigypsyeyes, you’re making me feel old.
In any case, I think that going back to school is always an option for those gamers. Pro (sports) athletes do it, after all. It may take some maturity for them to do so, but athletes who go back to school don’t tend to do badly.
As an aside, I think that the B10 should start offering gaming scholarships and the BTN should start showing gaming tournaments. Not sure if the fuddy-duddies running the place recognize the potential, though.
"competition is ALWAYS good. Of course nobody WANTS it. Competition means you have to outwork, outsmart the competitor. It forces you to innovate, get leaner, stronger, faster, more nimble. Just like in sports…can a QB afford to gain 40 pounds an not work out? NO! why? competition. "
Actually the idea of sports competition leaves me cold, because I (me, personally) find the idea of caring about who gets more points in a football game (etc) rather silly, and it doesn’t motivate me (me, personally) to do better. I’ve become more athletic in recent years and a lot of that has specifically resulted from reframing things as a competition (beating the other team) into competing more with myself. So, no, I disagree that it’s always necessary to frame things as competing with others. Indeed, I don’t really want my kids paying a lot of attention to what others do. Do your own best, don’t worry about others.
That’s hilarious. It really is. In a lot of sports, having a family–or someone else–able and willng to foot the bill is a HUGE advantage. Every now and then a rare kid from a disadvantaged background ends up as a star in gymnastics or ice skating, tennis, swimming, squash or lacrosse but they are rare. It costs a lot to participate in most areas of the country.
Those are sports? 
I said closer…
Jonri, You are right.
dstark, many of the kids I’m talking about are well under the age of majority. You still (in theory) could have plenty of control 
Romani. I like that you wrote (in theory).
I thought I was going to be a strict disciplinarian as a father. I kind of thought I was. Turned out, I was clueless.
I let my kids play online poker when they were minors. Well… Let’s just say they played.
I probably would have been ok with the games.
romani; Parenting control is pretty much an illusion. Sooner or later kids figure this out. By the time they figure it out, with any luck, they have developed some common sense.
I have written my oldest daughter was an actuary. She actually did the work of an actuary but she needs to pass one last test to get whatever the letters are when you become an actuary.
She just quit her actuarial job. She is going into operations.
She said she is never going to pass this last actuary test.
What the … Heck?
I have no control romani.
Uh oh…
[quote]
romani; Parenting control is pretty much an illusion. Sooner or later kids figure this out. By the time they figure it out, with any luck, they have developed some common sense.
[quote]
Remember Malcolm in the Middle? The words in the theme song, “You are not the boss of me”?
My son said, I think his freshman high school year, “You are not the boss of me”.
I didn’t say anything. I thought, “Hmmmm. You are right.”
I read on CC, I told my kid this. I told my kid that. My kid listened.
I just think we had very different kids.
nm. I can’t be telling tales.
I don’t think my parents even pretended to have control of me.
I turned out ok. I think 
Though I do talk to the dog like a person… Hm
Alh, I can’t tell too many more.
Maybe this is why we understand each others posts.
The point I was making above is that some people can’t help competing–that’s just how they are constructed. My daughter is like this; my son much less so. There is no wrong or right to this; it’s just how some people are. And people who are competitive like this are drawn to situations that stretch their abilities. Others are more interested in situations in which they can collaborate with others, or in which they can have a great work-life balance.
For good or ill, the most elite universities are overstocked with the competitive types. Not all the students there are like this, but it has definitely trended that way in the last decades, as the portfolio of achievements needed to get in has grown.
Hunt, I agree with you. Your whole post.
My daughter applied for a job at a hedge fund. I rarely say anything, because it is her life. I couldn’t help myself. I told her I don’t think that’s you. My daughter is competitive but not that competitive!
She had the interview and she told me she didn’t think the job was right for her.
The money is great.
I am sure the guys running the hedge fund agreed. She didn’t get a job offer.
Hunt, your post describes why I am not enamored with these elite schools. I don’t like that hyper competition.
I worked on a trading floor. Maybe you have seen the trading scene at the end of Trading Places. That was my career.
My career was super duper competitive. I got married. I had kids. I started looking around the trading floor. I looked at all the competitve guys. Trying to take a percentage of the trades. I started thinking. What am I doing here?
This isn’t what life is about.
So I slowly eased my way out.
I worked with super competitive bright people. Super competitive bright people are not brighter than quieter, less competitive bright people. They aren’t more elite. In fact, their competitiveness can cause them to do crazy things. Take on too much risk. That guy is long 20,000 shares. i will be long 50,000. That is guy is long 50,000 shares, I will be long 100,000 shares. And so on… Then the stock tanks and these guys blow up.
Look at wall street. Ripped up trillions a few years ago. Wall Street was doing the same thing homeowners were doing. Leveraging up. Wall Street wasn’t smarter. Wall Street was taking on more risk. Too much risk. Leveraged 33 to 1. Assets drop more than 3 percent in price, you are wiped out. Wth? That is what they teach you at Harvard?
My grandmother knew better than that. She didn’t graduate high school but she was smarter than a lot of the wall street guys.
@Hunt, I really think it varies among colleges and I also think that it varies among majors. For example, I think Brown’s policy of allowing students to take as many courses as they want S/NC and its lack of distribution requirements attract a lot of kids who want to do their own thing and don’t care about competiton. IMO, schools like Wes and Brown “feel” less competitive than most other top colleges.
I think your alma mater Yale attracts a fair # of performers and artists who are only interested in competing in their fields of interest. There’s a limit to how much people will “elbow” each other in these areas because it’s all about building a network. So, you don’t want to get the rep of being too competitive.
If you major in economics or you are pre-med, you’re going to think Harvard is an incredibly competitive place. If you major in Latin, your impression of your fellow students will be quite different.
@dstark, did you get out of that rat race before or after your hair began to go gray?
