Wednesday, January 20, 2016

"To get into college, Harvard report advocates for kindness instead of overachieving" - Washington Post

Dear all,

I just came across this and thought it may be of interest to some of you, as it pertains to our discussion about kindness vs. achievement on Tuesday night: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2016/01/20/to-get-into-college-harvard-report-advocates-for-kindness-instead-of-overachieving/

Your thoughts welcome!
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2 comments:

  1. LadsonJanuary 24, 2016 at 12:48 PM

    This report is a good start, but I think there are too many "old-school" Harvard grads that would not stand for any substantial changes to admission requirements. I think it would take a long time for this idea to become acceptable.

    I like Yale's approach of having an essay about your contributions.

    I do think this adds another subjective layer into the admissions process, what counts as contribution would widely vary. And I'm not sure that children are self aware enough to realize the value of their contributions. For example, a former roommate's daughter could and would cook dinner for her single mom when the daughter was 8 years old - some children are not even allowed in the kitchen alone at that age - but it definitely helped the mom out. I think the daughter wouldn't realize the possible burden that was lifted from the working mother...that was just part of the daughter's chores.

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  2. JenniJanuary 25, 2016 at 10:02 AM

    It's an interesting article, and maybe I'm just feeling overly pessimistic today, but it sort of makes me more stressed for college kids everywhere and all over. I also feel like it--the accounting for one more thing--adds to the idea of exclusivity and elitism (still). I've thought this more than once in my years since undergrad: I'm not sure I'd have made it to college with today's crop of collegians. These kids are driven incredibly hard. But then again, it's their way of life, so perhaps it's all they know (and I'd have been just fine).






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