The Atlantic Cares About Rich White People

[justgladtobehere]

The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents

I find this article so horribly off point. It even hints at something to say, but backs off and provides only a link.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

"She needs at least a 5.0 rating, or she's going to Ohio State," Sloane told me.

That's THE Ohio State.

 

[Twirling Time]

I'm still in hypnosis over the cover photo. So it's 1,000 images taken over a single lacrosse game?

 

[CD Boogie]

The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents

The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents

I find this article so horribly off point. It even hints at something to say, but backs off and provides only a link.

I work in Greenwich, CT and used to cover sports in Fairfield County and these are some of the worst, most-misguided adults you will ever encounter. This quote says it all. I mean, look at this asshole: "Or, as the Darien parent told me, they're using athletics to escape "the penalty that comes from being from an advantaged zip code." She continued: "Being who you are is not enough. It might be enough in Kansas. But not here."

 

[justgladtobehere]

My concern about the article was more about its existence in The Atlantic. Why is a whiney piece about college admissions for rich white children something to publish? A lefty academic type or PJ O'Rourke would have done a better criticism of what is going on.

 

[CD Boogie]

My concern about the article was more about its existence in The Atlantic. Why is a whiney piece about college admissions for rich white children something to publish? A lefty academic type or PJ O'Rourke would have done a better criticism of what is going on.

How much ink was spilled over Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman? People love to read about rich people not getting their way.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I managed to finish it, and I wondered a couple of things:
1) Did it have to be that bloody long?
2) What is the parents' real motivation? It's not the financial savings that a scholarship would bring. I think the real motivation is the ego gratification they get from being able to say their kid goes to Yale. But I'd like the story to explain that. The piece is so long and it delves into so many areas that it's hard to figure out its most important points.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I managed to finish it, and I wondered a couple of things:
1) Did it have to be that bloody long?
2) What is the parents' real motivation? It's not the financial savings that a scholarship would bring. I think the real motivation is the ego gratification they get from being able to say their kid goes to Yale. But I'd like the story to explain that. The piece is so long and it delves into so many areas that it's hard to figure out its most important points.

Some of these are parents who are around my age, many of whom grew up pretty middle class and have made a lot of money as adults. Many of them went to Ivy League schools. The difference was that when they were that age, getting into those schools was much easier. Not easy. You needed the grades, good SAT scores, etc., but if you had decent credentials, those schools were a realistic possibility, at least.

Getting in to sthose schools today is nearly impossible. Over the last 20 years, they have gotten more and more difficult to get into, to the point that Princeton rejects something like 3 out of every 5 class valedictorians, never mind the kids who finished third or fourth in their class who might have had at least a small chance in the past.

So that is where this all starts from. Those parents think the key to their kids lives is going to the same schools they went to, and this all started with them looking for ways to get their kids in as it has gotten nearly impossible.

That has created a culture in places where a lot of those people live -- such as the areas around Stamford, Ct. -- where even parents who didn't go to those schools, but have the means, have gotten sucked into the mentality the story was trying to convey (and I agree, it wasn't done very well).

Eventually, it became even less about getting into the universities themselves than it being a twisted competition among the parents.

 

[Huggy]

She and her husband feel hoodwinked by the directors of her son's club-lacrosse program, which happily stoked her fantasies while stockpiling her money: $10,000 a year for 11 years. "They were talking Notre Dame for him," she said. "Our eyes were glistening … We went to 16 showcases last year. I can't believe the money we spent to see our son rejected 16 times."

shirt, this could just as easily be my wife's brother and his wife who have written plenty of hefty checks to their oldest son's travel baseball coaches in the belief he can play at Vanderbilt. The kid, a terrific student, but as this story points out, there are loads of them out there, isn't even the best player on his team let alone one good enough to play at Vandy and tuition there for international students is insanely high. But even though there has been no baseball at any level in Ontario (save for teams like his that schedule endless exhibitions to keep getting checks) he walks around all the time in a Vandy hat and his parents tell me they are keeping all options open.

 

[CD Boogie]

She and her husband feel hoodwinked by the directors of her son's club-lacrosse program, which happily stoked her fantasies while stockpiling her money: $10,000 a year for 11 years. "They were talking Notre Dame for him," she said. "Our eyes were glistening … We went to 16 showcases last year. I can't believe the money we spent to see our son rejected 16 times."

shirt, this could just as easily be my wife's brother and his wife who have written plenty of hefty checks to their oldest son's travel baseball coaches in the belief he can play at Vanderbilt. The kid, a terrific student, but as this story points out, there are loads of them out there, isn't even the best player on his team let alone one good enough to play at Vandy and tuition there for international students is insanely high. But even though there hasdbeen no baseball at any level in Ontario (save for teams that schedule endless exhibitions to keep getting checks) he walks around all the time in a Vandy hat and his parents tell me they are keeping all options open.

I went to Vandy and transferred in back in the 1990s, when the acceptance rate was like 30 percent or something for transfers. The freaking acceptance rate now is less than 10 percent. So while I could never get in there now, the value of my diploma has shot up remarkably in the last two decades. That's what these Yale graduates who want their kids to have the same experience as them should realize -- ya can't have it both ways. If the prestige of your alma mater goes up, the chances of your kid getting in goes down. Dems the brakes.

 

[justgladtobehere]

College acceptance rates are another crazy story.

The parents in this article aren't looking for scholarships. These sports would at best offer a quarter scholarship. It's the coach's thumb on the scale that is the motivation.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

She and her husband feel hoodwinked by the directors of her son's club-lacrosse program, which happily stoked her fantasies while stockpiling her money: $10,000 a year for 11 years. "They were talking Notre Dame for him," she said. "Our eyes were glistening … We went to 16 showcases last year. I can't believe the money we spent to see our son rejected 16 times."

shirt, this could just as easily be my wife's brother and his wife who have written plenty of hefty checks to their oldest son's travel baseball coaches in the belief he can play at Vanderbilt. The kid, a terrific student, but as this story points out, there are loads of them out there, isn't even the best player on his team let alone one good enough to play at Vandy and tuition there for international students is insanely high. But even though there has been no baseball at any level in Ontario (save for teams like his that schedule endless exhibitions to keep getting checks) he walks around all the time in a Vandy hat and his parents tell me they are keeping all options open.

Notre Dame's cost of attendance is something like $77K/year, before any financial aid. They might as well have saved their money and, if the kid was admitted, had him walk on to the team.