<p>At the risk of protesting too much, I remain sympathetic to the points of view in this article.</p>
<p>For example: “To the extent that the elite colleges set the pace, it is turning the educational culture into one that stresses individual perfection instead of one that stresses social improvement.”</p>
<p>Do the article’s critics not agree with this observation at all?</p>
<p>In the same paragraph, Gabler goes on to say “Because graduate schools and the best jobs often require extraordinary credentials, students must pour their energies into their own ambitions and accomplishments.”</p>
<p>Could not one could easily substitute “boarding schools” for graduate schools” and “top colleges” for “best jobs”?</p>
<p>I happen to love this statement in the concluding paragraph: “The danger isn’t just that people who are born on third base wind up thinking they hit a triple; the danger is that everyone else thinks those folks hit triples.” </p>
<p>I read this as a caveat against a culture of entitlement and the numerous “isms” mentioned above…where (to quote Nas) “the world is yours…it’s mine, it’s mine it’s mine”. I am personally uncomfortable with supporting that culture, especially in the minds and hearts of my daughters.</p>
<p>Mind you, I am not in favor of vilifying the socio-economic 1%. And admittedly, my kids were born on at least first base. I am simply in favor of taking a harder look at the values championed by the schools that education our children, society in general, and of course, ourselves as parents.</p>