December 31, 2104--Crimean War

We have a friend who has a precocious four-year-old. He spends some time in preschool but, since both parents work, his grandparents also spend a lot of time with him.

This past year, during parent-teacher night at the school, our friends heard from their child's teacher that he is, of course, bright and delightful; but, the teacher also confided she doesn't understand why little Edward spends so much time thinking about war. Especially the wars in Afghanistan and the Crimea.

The parents too were puzzled, but on the way home realized that their son's grandfather, a retired history professor, must spend time talking with his grandchild about his interest in that complicated region of the world.

I said to Rona, half facetious, "He may be only four-years-old but already he has an interesting thing to write about when it comes time to apply to college--How my grandfather, when I was very young, taught me about the Crimean War."

"What a leg up that is. I mean, with all the pressure on young children to think about college even before they're toilet trained, Eddie is off to a running start."

"He's in his own version of Head Start," I said. "But think about all the other children who, even at four, barely know their alphabet or numbers."

"Or, have people in their lives who pay deep attention to them much less expose them to anything beyond play things."

"And these advantages and disadvantage as time goes by. Just a few days ago there was a story in the New York Times about college guidance counselors."

"I saw that," Rona said, "How even at places like Midwood High School in Brooklyn, still one of the best public high schools in the City, where almost all the kids plan to go to college, with nearly 800 seniors applying to college there are only two college counselors."

"And how they have a hard time keeping up with the paperwork much less getting to know any of the seniors well enough to be able to write individualized letters of recommendation for them. Letters that all the selective colleges colleges require."

"And it's even worse at most other high schools where the ratio of students to counselors is more 500-to-one."

"I read that at Midwood where parents are mainly middle class there are volunteers who help with clerical chores like stuffing and mailing thousands of applications."

"In the 21st century where we're trying to be globally competitive and know that to be viable most young people need as much education as possible this is going on."

"Sad," I said.

"Think about how fortunate little Edward is."

"Even though he's too young to know that."

"The advantages nonetheless pile up."

"Let's not think too much about this today. It's New Years Eve."

"I hope we'll be able to stay up late enough to see the ball drop."