<story><title>Former Stanford dean explains why helicopter parenting is ruining a generation</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/10/16/former-stanford-dean-explains-why-helicopter-parenting-is-ruining-a-generation-of-children/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zkhalique</author><text>Perhaps, following sentiments of Peter Thiel and others, it&amp;#x27;s not necessary to get into an elite school today, in order to succeed. If it was, then good education and success would still be scarce in today&amp;#x27;s world, as most people can&amp;#x27;t afford to go to Harvard, Stanford, etc.&lt;p&gt;Now we have MOOCs an schools can become centers for socializing, tutoring and testing. A great teacher can educate more than 300 people a year this way.</text></item><item><author>klunger</author><text>This. It is like that old adage, &amp;quot;Behind every great man, there is a great woman.&amp;quot; For the modern era, it should perhaps now be, &amp;quot;behind every top-tier university student, there is a helicopter parent&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;It takes so much to get into one of these schools now that it seems impossible for any child without extensive support.</text></item><item><author>wfo</author><text>Dean complains about helicopter parents at Stanford and yet admissions essentially requires incoming students have helicopter parents. To get into a school like this you need to be exclusively focused on exactly the arbitrary criteria that will get you accepted into a school like this -- grades in the &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; classes, enough sports to talk about it in an essay but not too much, extracurricular and volunteer work at the &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; organizations, tutoring for the standardized exams. No teenager has a passion for SAT prep. If you stop pushing them and let them be human beings there are plenty of other children of helicopter parents who will be happy to take their place in the incoming Stanford class.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lemevi</author><text>This is nonsense. Getting into elite schools opens up doors that are otherwise completely shut. At law firms, at prestigious graduate schools, in academia, in medical schools and good positions at top corporations. Every year information is collected on the various success rates for students coming out of America&amp;#x27;s universities and students from elite school make up the highest paying and most successful members of our society. This is as true now as it was twenty years ago.</text></comment>
<story><title>Former Stanford dean explains why helicopter parenting is ruining a generation</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/10/16/former-stanford-dean-explains-why-helicopter-parenting-is-ruining-a-generation-of-children/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zkhalique</author><text>Perhaps, following sentiments of Peter Thiel and others, it&amp;#x27;s not necessary to get into an elite school today, in order to succeed. If it was, then good education and success would still be scarce in today&amp;#x27;s world, as most people can&amp;#x27;t afford to go to Harvard, Stanford, etc.&lt;p&gt;Now we have MOOCs an schools can become centers for socializing, tutoring and testing. A great teacher can educate more than 300 people a year this way.</text></item><item><author>klunger</author><text>This. It is like that old adage, &amp;quot;Behind every great man, there is a great woman.&amp;quot; For the modern era, it should perhaps now be, &amp;quot;behind every top-tier university student, there is a helicopter parent&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;It takes so much to get into one of these schools now that it seems impossible for any child without extensive support.</text></item><item><author>wfo</author><text>Dean complains about helicopter parents at Stanford and yet admissions essentially requires incoming students have helicopter parents. To get into a school like this you need to be exclusively focused on exactly the arbitrary criteria that will get you accepted into a school like this -- grades in the &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; classes, enough sports to talk about it in an essay but not too much, extracurricular and volunteer work at the &amp;quot;right&amp;quot; organizations, tutoring for the standardized exams. No teenager has a passion for SAT prep. If you stop pushing them and let them be human beings there are plenty of other children of helicopter parents who will be happy to take their place in the incoming Stanford class.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Thriptic</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s never been necessary to go to an elite school to be successful; it&amp;#x27;s simply much easier to get your foot in the door with employers if you have the words &amp;quot;MIT&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Stanford&amp;quot; on your resume as opposed to &amp;quot;Coursera&amp;quot; or some random college. Moreover, employers COME TO YOU if you are at these institutions, you don&amp;#x27;t need to go out and beg for face time.</text></comment>