In past posts I mentioned that people with children often claim special status when it comes to dissing those of us who are NMNK - or simply NK. We are not supposed to have an opinion about how others parent their children. We are sometimes even told we do not understand, especially when encountering brats, because we have not given birth.
The recent college entrance scams that have been revealed to the world in which wealthy parents got their undeserving children into colleges - especially elite colleges - through bribes, having others take tests for their children, even offering their nonathletic children for sports, has disgusted so many who are deserving, especially deserving and without privileged.
It especially upsets me because it's ILLUSTRATIVE OF PARENTS WHO ARE COMPETITIVE WITH OTHER PARENTS, using their children to compete and imply status. And it reminds me of being surrounded by people who aspired to PhD's at one time in my life and learning that most of them got this message early "To earn our love and respect, earn your PhD and make us proud."
At at time when the general public is having doubts about the value of a college education - and the investment of time and money in a college education - this scandal is about NARCISSISM - about parents who expect their children to be something to brag about for the rest of their lives.
It reminds me of a friend who I'm no longer friends with who managed to outdistance her parents and grandparents though a hard won college education and a Fortune 500 job but soon moved into owning a house in an elite neighborhood where she took on the characteristics of every braggart in town. Every encounter with a neighbor included bragging, letting people know how well, how educated, their children were doing, name dropping who they knew. Using the children to compete started in kindergarten, the pride of the child getting a good grade. But as in everywhere there are some students who are not so brilliant, not so talented, or simply not as mature or ready for school as others - a natural human variation - as well as those who truly need special education. I often wondered how much more stressful it must have been to be one of those children who knew in their heart and soul that they could not compete in academics or sports.
C 2019 Never Married No Kids BlogSpot
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