Admissions Mania
Articles and editorials abound hyping the growing selectivity of elite colleges and of parents’ obsession with getting their children into one. However, this website of an admissions consulting firm will take you into the true twilight zone behind this craze. For example, the mission statement says:
IvyWise is an educational consulting company committed to providing comprehensive admissions counseling services to students and their families worldwide. IvyWise counselors are devoted to educating and guiding students through each step of the application process, enabling students to gain admission to the most selective nursery schools, kindergartens, secondary schools, colleges and universities, and graduate and professional schools
Well-to-do parents have so fallen off the deep end that they are paying five figures to get the upper hand in admissions processes. Unfortunately, this trend represents a growing materialism in our society. Yet, I do not want to give the impression that companies such as IvyWise are the problem. In fact, they derive their existence from the social factors that have created this ultra-competitive meritocracy which now reaches into the lives of toddlers.
At any rate, I was seriously disturbed at the concept of admission coaching for nursery school. I leave it to you to decide whether I am overreacting.
Abuzachary