Harvard Girl?
Interesting article written in the International Herald Tribune on China’s growing obsession with Ivy League schools. I had a teacher at Tsinghua who was studying English who wanted to go to Harvard. She didn’t just want to go. She HAD to go. This was her life’s dream.
Now, eight years after the publication of “Harvard Girl,” bookstore shelves here are laden with copycat titles like “How We Got Our Child Into Yale,” “Harvard Family Instruction” and “The Door of the Elite.”
Their increasing popularity points to the preoccupation – some might say a single-minded national obsession – of a growing number of middle-class Chinese parents: getting their children into America’s premier universities.
Because government policy allows families only one child, many parents feel immense pressure to groom their sons and daughters for success and, in the process, prepare a comfortable retirement for themselves. They fervently mine the expanding volumes of child-rearing manuals – “Stanford’s Silver Bullet,” “Yale Girl,” “Creed of Harvard” – for tips on producing what the Chinese term “high-quality” children.
The one child policy has placed a lot of pressure on this generation of kids. While American kids worry about having their Ipod, X-box, Nintendo Wii or watching their favorite cartoons, Chinese kids are busy studying, pressured by parents to become their trophies. With the upcoming baby #2, I know I want my children to do well both educationally and financially, but I am reminded that life is far greater than that.
As a Christian, I believe we were made for a purpose. The Westminster Shorter Catechism question asks “What is the chief end of man?” Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. When I see parents pressuring kids to go to Ivy League, I see two things happening: 1) Parents want to live their lives through their kid in order to “look good” and 2) The kid becomes the parent’s chief end becoming their god.
The bible calls this idolatry. If you recall the Ten Commandments, the first two commandment says: Do not have any gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol…
In their zeal to worship something, Israel built for themselves a golden calf. God knows that in this life we will worship (because that’s how we are created). The thing is what will you worship? Idolatry today is more than just golden calfs, they are what you desire over all others. If God is not the center of your worship, then something else is and it is idolatry. And if it is idolatry, it will leave you empty and wanting more.
What gods do you worship? As you read through the bible you will find out that many people were led astray by their own hearts and the consequences were detrimental. In response, I appeal to you to turn to Christ. Let him lead you to the Father. Parents need to turn to Christ and lead their children in that direction as well. It may or may not bring you prestige, it may or may not bring you prosperity, it may or may not give you a comfortable retirement, but life is much more than that.
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