Kids these days...

I've often thought that if I had to compete against kids these days, that I would never be able to cut it. Kids -- and by that I mean high school and college age -- seem to really have their stuff together in a way I didn't until I was in my 20s... or 30s. They are smart, involved, socially aware, politically active. I am often impressed by many (and not at all impressed by some, of course), and when I compare how I was at their age, well, I definitely come up short -- and then exhale with relief that I didn't have to compete against them then.

But this leaves me incredulous. I am stunned that some kids and their parents are so freakishly competitive that they would resort to dubious diagnoses of learning disorders to game the SAT system. It's just wrong -- not fair to the kids are who do have learning disabilities and not fair to those who don't either. And what are those parents teaching their kids? Figure out the system and beat it? By any means necessary? Take advantage because you can? Cheating is okay? Money buys anything? A level playing field is for everyone else? The ends justify the means? Ugh.

I am perturbed, deeply.