Making the rounds of high school graduation parties this month, I’m repeatedly asked about the differences between life in Ireland vs. life in the States. My wife Jules’s post, End Of The Year Mania, covers a key area of difference, how we in the States are making important events (like high school graduations) unimportant by over-celebrating the trivial (like preschool graduations.) Jules references a brilliant piece in the The Boston Globe’s op-ed section on the downside of American over-celebrating. Jules nicely contrasts this with the upside of the Irish way of making the really important things truly matter more. Check it out.
Archive for the ‘Boston Globe’ Category
End of School Year Mania: The Downside of Making The Unimportant Important
4 June 2007Despite MIT Dean’s Forced Resignation, Every Parent Should Still Read Marilee Jones’s Book on College Admissions
30 April 2007
MIT Dean of Admissions Marilee Jones resigned after acknowledging fabricating her academic credentials when applying for an administrative assistant position in the seventies. Despite this, her advice on how the parents of high school juniors and seniors can reduce stress in the college admissions process is still spot on. Despite her resignation, every parent of a high school junior or senior should buy her book today.
I was lucky enough to receive Ms. Jones’s advice when she spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at our Boston area high school. For those not so lucky, you can obtain the advice in her book, Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond, coauthored with pediatrician Kenneth R. Ginsburg.
Parents – and their children – will benefit from Jones’s advice for two reasons: (more…)
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