The colleges are NOT the problem. The parents are. The schools you bring up here (UPenn and Northeastern) are two of the most competitive in the country). Most kids should not go to these schools. For other kids, taking five or six APs a year is not a problem at all. These are the kids who should go to the top schools. They tend to find the AP classes rather easy and like to challenge themselves as much as possible. The problem arises because parents want to push the kids beyond where they fit. Put another way, the brightest kids in the class spend about 80% of their time waiting for the other kids to catch up. It is boring. They need schools for them, schools where they will be taught at their faster pace and will be surrounded by students just like them. That's what UPenn is for. Most parents do not want to hear that their kid will not fit there. What you want to do is dumb the college entrance requirements down. That means the smartest kids will end up without a place to learn at their faster pace, and the nation's top colleges will become finishing schools for students who either win a lottery or benefit from their parents' ability to game the system.
Thanks for your comment, Christine. We do not disagree that talented students often benefit from going to schools with other motivated students. My point is that some parents do pressure their kids beyond what they can handle. And while Penn is one example of a school with a lot of smart kids (I would not say that ALL of them are talented and motivated), there are other great possibilities for talented students where they can perform at the highest level with other high performing kids--and neither suffer the stress that many of our young people feel these days (look at the research on teen depression) nor suffer the sort of boredom you describe. The problem is, partly, the colleges . And partly the parents. And partly the society that telegraphs that if you're smart and DO NOT choose to attend (or even apply) to a place like Penn, you must be a big, fat loser. Talented student can and do find challenge in a wider range of schools than the top 25 US (private, expensive) universities.
You rock!
This is why I've decided to send my kid to McDonald's University.
The colleges are NOT the problem. The parents are. The schools you bring up here (UPenn and Northeastern) are two of the most competitive in the country). Most kids should not go to these schools. For other kids, taking five or six APs a year is not a problem at all. These are the kids who should go to the top schools. They tend to find the AP classes rather easy and like to challenge themselves as much as possible. The problem arises because parents want to push the kids beyond where they fit.
Put another way, the brightest kids in the class spend about 80% of their time waiting for the other kids to catch up. It is boring. They need schools for them, schools where they will be taught at their faster pace and will be surrounded by students just like them. That's what UPenn is for. Most parents do not want to hear that their kid will not fit there. What you want to do is dumb the college entrance requirements down. That means the smartest kids will end up without a place to learn at their faster pace, and the nation's top colleges will become finishing schools for students who either win a lottery or benefit from their parents' ability to game the system.
Thanks for your comment, Christine. We do not disagree that talented students often benefit from going to schools with other motivated students. My point is that some parents do pressure their kids beyond what they can handle. And while Penn is one example of a school with a lot of smart kids (I would not say that ALL of them are talented and motivated), there are other great possibilities for talented students where they can perform at the highest level with other high performing kids--and neither suffer the stress that many of our young people feel these days (look at the research on teen depression) nor suffer the sort of boredom you describe. The problem is, partly, the colleges . And partly the parents. And partly the society that telegraphs that if you're smart and DO NOT choose to attend (or even apply) to a place like Penn, you must be a big, fat loser. Talented student can and do find challenge in a wider range of schools than the top 25 US (private, expensive) universities.