University Slickers

“I did not know—even after four years at the institution—that the school’s impressive matriculation list was not the simple by-product of excellent teaching, but was in fact the end result of parental campaigns undertaken with the same level of whimsy with which the Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor.” Caitlin Flanagan with some reflections on the college admissions scandal.

+ Helping your kids get into the best school by artificially boosting their achievements is so passé at this point. The hip way to help is by hamstringing the kids they’re competing against. WaPo: When parents are so desperate to get their kids into college that they sabotage other students.