进入一所昂贵的寄宿学校值么？

为了让自己的孩子进入精英大学，很多父母把孩子送进昂贵的寄宿学校。学生面对着学习的压力，父母面对着经济的压力。学生离开了童年的伙伴，父母忍受着亲情的距离。进入一所顶尖高中值么？听一听美国学生父母的思考与讨论。

Is a Top High School Worth the Sacrifice?

Posted by Sara Schaefer Munoz ， The Wall Street Journal

The pressure to get your child into a top school and then a top college seems to be getting harder and harder to ignore. Fanning the flames is a story in today’s Journal that examined high schools where kids have the best chance of getting into Harvard and seven other elite colleges. Click here for the list.

Many parents might immediately say, and rightly so, that an Ivy League education is not a recipe for a successful, happy adult. However, an interesting sidebar to the story quotes parents on how the time, money and pressure to send their children to top high schools has paid off. Some excerpts:

·  “My son and I went to dinner and were interrupted by two women who asked my son his age. He told them that he was 17. They were surprised and had thought he must have been of college age. Apparently they had been eavesdropping on our conversation and remarked that they were very impressed by his intellect, manner, content of conversation and maturity . . . [The comments] continue to reassure me that the sacrifices our family made so that my son could attend a competitive and academically rigorous high school were well worth it.”

·  “Regardless of where he goes to college, the benefits of being surrounded by highly motivated peers from many different communities who respect and encourage each other in an atmosphere of academic rigor and emotional support, easily outweigh the seven-mile commute to a neighboring town and the relatively small number of local friends.”

·  “I have found the pressure (surrounding elite high school and college admissions) gave my children a window into reality as it pertains to life outside the home . . . Pressure is something we all as adults have to face everyday. I believe this has been helpful for my children.”

Readers, do you think parents have a realistic sense of whether the pressure to succeed in a top high school is good for their kids? Do you make sacrifices in terms of working extra hours, commute or neighborhood to send your kids to a top high school? Do you think it’s worth it?

全文链接

http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2007/11/30/is-a-top-high-school-worth-the-sacrifice/?mod=sphere_ts