As someone who has a kid taking the SAT I noticed some of the more affluent parents recently finding out their kid has a disability and needing accomodations. Where I don’t begrudge anyone getting them if they do in fact have them this seems to be another Varsity Blues vibe:
Also, coming on the heels of the Harvard’s grade inflation story:
It’s been interesting visiting some of these schools and realizing many T-20s are very overhyped simply based on past reputation.
I didn’t know about the disabilities bit. That’s news to me. I have been following the grade inflation thing at Harvard. That can be problematic for these kids in the future, when the big bad world bites them in the ■■■ for not caring much for their feelings. I do deal with some of that as an official, where someone thinks they’re better than they really are. At races they’re only playing, I can’t imagine some of these people at a job.
I do have to wonder about the accommodations. How much of that is gaming the system, how much is playing the victim, and how much is real. I can’t imagine that percentages are much different than when we were all younger and in school.
I do have to add. We do not have kids, so we don’t see these first hand. I’d like to say, while we don’t directly consume what education has to offer, we do have to deal with its results. We run into young adults who can’t do simple math, like making change. IMO this is all an indictment on how little parents (here at least) value even basic education.
I am more annoyed these days by boomers who choose to pay with cash and make everyone behind them wait while they fish bills out of their pocket like it’s 1975! Good grief, it is 2025 figure out how to use tap to pay for things. It is so much easier and faster for everyone!
Get off my lawn!
Things are very cash heavy here in Ea NC. I tap, or use my phone quite often, sometimes will pay cash. But I used the making change example for an example of how poorly basic life skills are valued here. I suspect it’s the case in a large portion of the US too.
Actually, the only time I use cash anymore is in a casino or donating to a charity of some sort (high school kids, scouts, etc selling something or people taking donations for folks who are down on their luck).
Im taking my son in a couple of weeks to visit Colgate, Cornell, University of Toronto and Yale. Talk about sticker shock !! Maybe I should hit him on the head with a frying pan and claim a disability 
Depending on the major I can see where the Ivy league could make sense. My kid is def still looking at Cornell and UToronto and Yale but it’s weird how much better some Big Ten schools and the west coast schools are for her major.
And cheaper !!!
Except Michigan OOS is insane.
Tell them the U is “the Furd” of Utah😉
Never use cash to account for all expenses montly
Quite frankly the ability to do math in your head as a “life skill” is an antiquated notion. I remember teachers saying “you won’t always have a calculator with you in the future” except that now I do. I have a more powerful computer in my pocket than I ever had in school in the 70s and 80s. I get that boomers are terrified of technology but good grief, get with the times. Maybe boomers inability to adapt to the times is an indictment of parents and the education system.
The valuable thing I took away from High School was the understanding that computers operate on GIGO, and there is no way for a computer to ever be able to assess the difference between facts, fiction, and complete nonsense.
It doesn’t discount their usefulness, but it does mean they are limited.
This is where critical thinking skills come into play. I think that young people today are far ahead in that realm.
I think that the older generations (and, yes, I’m generalizing here) have the tendency of judging the younger generations on their life navigation skills based on their own personal experiences, and they tend not to take into account that the world has changed. Young people navigate the world differently to suit the new realities that they face, and some of our “old people advice” may not be suitable or useful to them. I suppose that this has always been true, but technology has been changing so rapidly in the last 50 years, perhaps more quickly than it ever has before.
As Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” Not sure if that quote is entirely applicable here, but I like it.
I don’t think people realize that the 40% and 20% mentioned in my OP is from parents of the younger generation just gaming the system. Then when the kids get in school they feel entitled. The generations that should be leading have developed a society where PAYING for Play and crony captialism rules the land. Universities paying politicians to get funding released etc etc.
Just really a toxic environment in education currently.
bRuins come in at 100%.
FTFO!
That doesn’t explain the growth of Turning Point USA on college campuses. The whole “bro” culture and manosphere with young people is troubling.
Political tribalism crosses generational lines and is a problem for every age demographic.