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Yuck
2007-02-07 - 9:53 a.m. Oh dear. N is home, having thrown up last night. I'm feeling a little queasy myself. K is back to work. Hmmmm. College info night last night at LUPS. As usual, these things create more anxiety than they assuage. I'd already decided not to worry, but somehow being in a library full of worried parents, even though we were being told not to worry, caused me to worry. Actually, it was the conversation with the worried parent out in the parking lot that caused the most worry. Her daughter is taking much the same load that N is taking and is probably doing better than N is doing. Also, due to her being smart and dedicated and having gone to a pushy french middleschool, she's a year ahead in a lot of her classes -- she's taking senior science and senior math. Also, she's a desirable minority. So it's clear to me that she has a good shot at the fancy schools. Her mother was telling me that she doesn't want the kid to go to the fancy schools. She doesn't want the expense, or to have her so far away, or to have all the pressure. She also confirmed what N had hinted at -- that there's a click of the pushy children of pushy parents who are desperate to get their kids into the fancy schools. These kids are not very nice (and haven't been nice to this kid in particular). Even kids who've been family friends forever have dropped this kid, apparently because she's not cool enough. This is so bizarre and contrary to my own experience, where the mean and popular kids all wanted to be cheerleaders, and the smart kid classes were the refuge of the smart and quirky. My friend D, for instance, who had hornrimmed glasses and too-short polyester plaid pants. Really. But was very smart and funny. Although I am sure there were kids we weren't exactly nice to, either. I guess it's partly to do with the town we live in, where people really aren't nice, generally. There's a sort of pushiness. And it's an academic town, so the pushiness centers on smartness -- I can see that. So you've got two choices. Either do as this kid has done -- do well and just avoid the horrible kids. Or as N has done -- do sort of well and avoid the horrible kids. And as far as college -- well, maybe you want to try to go to a college that won't be full of these horrible kids. Really, I think her daughter could go to a fancy school and be just fine. She's clearly bright and dedicated, and surely the fancy schools are still letting kids of that ilk in. Surely there'd be someone there for her daughter to talk to! Hmmmm. Yuck.
find me! - 2008-02-12 |
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