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In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT prep cours

admin2009-04-23  36
问题     In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT prep courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. We say our motives are selfless and sensible. A degree from Stanford or Princeton is the ticket for life. If Aaron and Nicole don’t get in, they’re forever doomed.
    I’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. It’s one-upmanship(能超越别人的本事) among parents. We see our kids’ college pedigrees(门第,出身) as trophies attesting to how well—or how poorly—we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession is more about us than them.
    It’s true that getting into college has generally become tougher because the number of high-school graduates has grown. We have a full-blown prestige panic; we worry that there won’t be enough trophies to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever.
    Underlying the hysteria is the belief that scarce elite degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All that’s plausible—and mostly wrong. Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less-selective schools, according to a study. On two measures—professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams—selective schools do slightly worse.
    By some studies, selective schools do enhance their graduates’ lifetime earnings. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(侥幸的成功). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
    Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it’s nor the only indicator and, paradoxically, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college isn’t life’s only competition. In the next competition—the job market, graduate school—the results may change.
    So, parents, lighten up. The stakes have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment.
选项
答案ticket for life/key to success
解析 由题干中的diploma，Stanford和Princeton定位到文章首段倒数第2句A degree from Stanford or Princeton is the ticket for life．此处需要填入名词性成分，与as一起作regard的宾语补足语．其结构为regard sth．as sth．表示“把…看作”。题目中的diploma与文中的degree近义，根据题意应填入ticket for life/key to success。
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