Inthecollege-admissionswars,weparentsarethetruefighters．We'repushingourkidstogetgoodgrades,takeSATpreparatorycoursesandbuildresumessotheycangetintothecollegeofourfirstchoice．I'vetwicebeentothewars,andasIsurveythebattlefield,somethingdifferentishappening．Weseeourkids'collegebackgroundasaprizedemonstratinghowwellwe'veraisedthem．Butwecan'tacknowledgethatourobsessionismoreaboutusthanthem．Sowe'vecontrivedvariousjustificationsthatturnouttobehalf-truths,prejudicesormyths．Itactuallydoesn'tmattermuchwhetherAaronandNicolegotoStanford． Wehaveafull-blownprestigepanic;weworrythattherewon'tbeenoughprizestogoaround．Fearfulparentsurgetheirchildrentoapplytomoreschoolsthanever．Underlyingthehysteriaisthebeliefthatscarceelitedegreesmustbehighlyvaluable．Theirgraduatesmustenjoymoresuccessbecausetheygetabettereducationanddevelopbettercontacts．Allthatisplausible--andmostlywrong．Wehaven'tfoundanyconvincingevidencethatselectivityorprestigematters．Selectiveschoolsdon'tsystematicallyemploybetterinstructionalapproachesthanlessselectiveschools．Ontwomeasures--professor'sfeedbackandthenumberofessayexams--selectiveschoolsdoslightlyworse． Bysomestudies,selectiveschoolsdoenhancetheirgraduates'lifetimeearnings．Thegainisreckonedat2-4%forevery100-pointincreaseinaschool'saverageSATscores．Buteventhisadvantageisprobablyastatisticalfluke．Awell-knownstudyexaminedstudentswhogotintohighlyselectiveschoolsandthenwentelsewhere．Theyearnedjustassuchasgraduatesfromhigher-statusschools． Kidscountmorethantheircolleges．GettingintoYalemaysignifyintelligence,talentandambition．Butit'snottheonlyindicatorand,paradoxically,itssignificanceisdeclining．Thereason: somanysimilarpeoplegoelsewhere．Gettingintocollegeisn'tlife'sonlycompetition．Inthenextcompetition--thejobmarketandgraduateschool--theresultsmaychange．Old-boynetworksarebreakingdown．PrincetoneconomistAlanKruegerstudiedadmissionstoonetopPh． D．program．HighscoresontheGREhelpedexplainwhogotin;degreesofprestigiousuniversitiesdidn't． So,parents,lightenup．Thestakeshavebeenvastlyexaggerated．Uptoapoint,wecanrationalizeourpushiness．Americaisacompetitivesociety;ourkidsneedtoadjusttothat．Buttoomuchpushinesscanbedestructive．TheveryambitionweimposeonourchildrenmaygetsomeintoHarvardbutmayalsosetthemupfordisappointment．Onestudyfoundthat,otherthingsbeingequal,graduatesofhighlyselectiveschoolsexperiencedmorejobdissatisfaction．Theymayhavebeensoconditionedtobeingontopthatanythinglessdisappoints． Whydoestheauthorsaythatparentsarethetruefightersinthecollege-admissionswars?
A.They have the final say in which university their children are to attend． B.They know best which universities are most suitable for their children． C.They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application． D.They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves．正确答案D
