<p>As someone said before I did, permission to print this post and show to my guidance counselor? <em>smile</em>
Beautifully put. Hope to see more of your posts in the future.
Kudos.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your comments and plaudits. Though the piece has its flaws (does anyone know if I can still edit at this late date?) I am heartened that it seems to be helpful to many. Feel free to forward or quote it. As to publishing, Im not sure if I want to relinquish my anonymity, but I am considering it.</p>
<p>It has been pointed out to me that Ive forgotten to include art as a valuable realm of human activity, and I have to agree this is an oversight.</p>
<p>Juilliet, you make a good point that students may find greater intellectual reciprocity from their peers at their less-than-dream school than they expect.</p>
<p>Rileydog, I truly dont mean to blame kids for their feelings of disappointment, though I see how what Ive written could be interpreted that way. I agree that I havent addressed the issue of reforming college admissions. I didnt do so because in my view that is a task for the adults of the world rather than the eighteen-year-olds. (Though I must say, I, too, have my concerns about any process that strips from so many their sense of being valuable or worthy.) For the class of 2008, the die is cast. Their job is to fashion the best education they can out of the opportunities before them. But the glass is not half empty, it is 95 or 98% full. We just need to view the situation through less hierarchical lenses.</p>
<p>Best wishes,
Taomom</p>
<p>taomom: If you want any of us to submit it for you as anonymous, let us know…</p>
<p>Brilliant.</p>
<p>I feel just fine without a Harvard degree…</p>
<p>Worry not about some errors in your writing; I didn’t notice it and even if there are it does not by any means degrade the value of your marvelous writing.
I sincerely thank you for sharing your ideas; I was depressed after waves of continuous rejections and was unsatisfied with what I ended up with, but now I am consoled and feel much more confident. Again, thank you a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks <3
that was very touching and encouraging</p>
<p>Thanks for such a wonderful post.You have indeed touched the core of every single student in this forum.<br>
This message should be widely circulated in all the high schools!!
It is a great graduation gift-</p>
<p>Thank you Taomom,</p>
<p>I cried tears of hope and empowerment today when I read your post.</p>
<ul>
<li>Class of 08</li>
</ul>
<p>That was beautiful and inspirational. Thank you.</p>
<p>Ingenious! Well done!</p>
<p>What a wonderful post. Thank you.<br>
And I just want to add to those seniors who don’t yet know what they want to do with their lives–at the ripe old age of 56, I found my own passion (teaching economically disadvantaged kindergarteners to read–did you know college attendance is being decided by 2nd grade? Those who discover the pleasure of reading for hours at home as young children will have that option–those who view reading as a chore by second grade will likely not do as well all thru the rest of their schooling and not do well enough on the SAT to be admitted to college).<br>
As you pointed out, where (or even, in my case, how long ago!) you attend college doesn’t matter, what matters is what you bring to the world, what drives you and what you can offer. And if you haven’t found your passion yet, I’m sure it won’t take you quite as long as it took me.</p>
<p>thanks for that.
as a high school senior, i hope that more people my age and younger hear what you have to say…and not only hear, but to follow
props to u</p>
<p>First off, I loved the original post. While I agree with some of the previous posts that it was a bit cliche at times, this seems more a question of style more than anything else, and is in keeping with the general feel good tone targeting a wide audiance. </p>
<p>@Juliet
I agree that there does seem a root cause for much of this. Many of its symptomes can be seen on cc: e.g. excessive competition, feelings of entitlement or superiority, and a sense that admission will determine all of ones future life to an immense degree. </p>
<p>@Taomom
(looking at the part to juliet) This thread effectively tackles the first and touches on the latter two. Other threads do the much the same with different focuses. Inevitably the above and other issues always come up. However, I was wondering if you, or anyone else would like to make an attempt at confronting these problems and/or their root causes on cc? Thanks for your original post and any you might write in the future.</p>
<p>Bravo! gggggg</p>
<p>Truly inspiring. I’ll take this to heart when I go to college in less 5 months. Thanks.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the post. You really opened my eyes. Your words of kindness and understanding touched my heart, and it’s nice to know that someone genuinely cares.</p>
<p>2008 sucks. If I had known this long beforehand, i would have tried to skip a year of elementary school or something</p>
<p>I skipped over this thread many times, not thinking it was directly relevant to me or mine. But seeing it at the top of page 1 so many times, I knew there must be something here. </p>
<p>So much in that post, taomom. Not just about college acceptances but about life.</p>
<p>Thank you for your contribution to cc and count me among those who (1) thinks this post should be brought to the top each year at this time, and (2) would like to hear more from you now that you have de-lurked.</p>
<p>and to the graduating COLLEGE seniors, please take a look at <a href=“http://www.roadtripnation.com%5B/url%5D”>www.roadtripnation.com</a> So much to offer for those who are asked “now what?”</p>