04/17/98

High School Pressure Cooker

At the beginning of 10th grade our daughter and her high school guidance counselor met to discuss college preparation and entrance requirements. Since she had achieved nearly straight A's through 9th grade, she expected nothing but praise and promises of admission possibilities to Ivy League schools.

"Good grades aren't enough," the counselor told her. "If you want to compete for the top colleges, you need leadership experience, varsity athletics and more extracurricular activities. In short, you need to build a résumé."

That was our introduction to the high school pressure cooker for college bound students. Before that day, I had held the old-fashioned notion that clubs and athletics were mostly for fun! A bit shaken but determined, our daughter followed the counselor's advice. She had always pursued personal interests in music, sports and community service, so she concentrated on finding leadership opportunities. Most of her friends did likewise.

The level of competition for admission to elite colleges and universities boggles the mind. 12,000 or more extremely capable students apply for every 1000 admitted and they, too, have spent four years building their credentials. Dumb luck probably accounts for many of the "yes" decisions, because the quality of the applicant pool is so high. Toss out the top 1000 and the second 1000 look equally strong.

Ambitious high school students doggedly compete for recognition and class rank. With so much at stake some kids buckle under the pressure and help each other cheat on tests, just to get ahead.

One parent with whom I spoke about résumé building was incensed about it. "My son's high school offers no course in trigonometry," she said, "but mandates 30 hours of community service before graduation." When she objected, she was told that colleges were more interested in seeing volunteer work than advanced math on his transcript.

Why are we subjecting our 16 and 17 year olds to this kind of pressure when they are still trying to figure out who they are? Certainly young people can feverishly beef up their academic and social service records, but emotional maturation takes time. Teens need long conversations, romance, hikes, journals, bike rides, poetry, fishing and daydreams, too.

Since people live longer, healthier lives these days, why not slow things down a little? Perhaps students should build their résumés after high school by taking a year or two away from their studies to work, travel or help others. High school graduates could enter Americorps, a domestic version of the Peace Corps, before college, to help revitalize inner cities and impoverished rural areas while gaining valuable life experience for themselves. Work apprenticeships also make sense, not only to save money for higher education costs but also to help formulate career and study plans.

We need not push our children so hard that they become candidates for adult burn-out before they even graduate from college. In the long run, the best prepared college freshmen will be the ones who took the time to build some wisdom, wit and emotional maturity into their résumés.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.