Me too, and I agree with Gull.
Where I live, it's cutthroat competitive and fun/free time is a seemingly low priority. I find myself trying to protect this for my kids rather than emphasize even more work, more competing. That's naturally built in to the fabric of their daily lives.
College admissions folks tell me they can often spot those consultant-aided college applications.
Obviously, there is a middle ground which parents need to deal with on an individual basis. However, I thought Patrick was just saying that our general population is not pushed hard enough to excel when compared with other countries and I absolutely agree. It doesn't need to be a kill or be killed mentality necessarily. I would imagine that none of us would sit around and watch our children underachieve in junior high and high school hoping and waiting that they will catch up later in life. My guess is that most kids don't catch-up when educational and work-related apathy was accepted and reinforced during their junior high and high school years. The working environment is much different than when most of us first entered the workforce. We probably had it a lot easier because the pool of talent available in many well paying fields is now global rather than just local.
Kid sports that don't keep score is just a joke. Almost every kid and parent still knows the score. If they don't want to keep score, why do they even have games? Just have more practices and learn skills and endurance, etc.
Tim
Me too, and I agree with Gull.
Where I live, it's cutthroat competitive and fun/free time is a seemingly low priority. I find myself trying to protect this for my kids rather than emphasize even more work, more competing. That's naturally built in to the fabric of their daily lives.
College admissions folks tell me they can often spot those consultant-aided college applications.
Obviously, there is a middle ground which parents need to deal with on an individual basis. However, I thought Patrick was just saying that our general population is not pushed hard enough to excel when compared with other countries and I absolutely agree. It doesn't need to be a kill or be killed mentality necessarily. I would imagine that none of us would sit around and watch our children underachieve in junior high and high school hoping and waiting that they will catch up later in life. My guess is that most kids don't catch-up when educational and work-related apathy was accepted and reinforced during their junior high and high school years. The working environment is much different than when most of us first entered the workforce. We probably had it a lot easier because the pool of talent available in many well paying fields is now global rather than just local.
Kid sports that don't keep score is just a joke. Almost every kid and parent still knows the score. If they don't want to keep score, why do they even have games? Just have more practices and learn skills and endurance, etc.
Tim
