Jumping hoops to get into college

So we got home OK, if two hours late and past midnight.

Here is a scary story about the meritocracy going wild in university admissions in the NYT.

“It used to be that if you were editor of the paper or president of your class you could get in almost anywhere,” Mr. Singer says. “Now it’s ‘What did you do as president? How did you make the paper special?’ Kids file stories from Bosnia or El Salvador on their summer vacations.” Such students are known in college admissions circles as “pointy” — being well-rounded doesn’t cut it anymore. You need to have a spike in your achievement chart.

Kids learn to jump through hoops held out by others, to the exclusion of all else.