How many kids like this are there, really. I keep reading these articles but I'm not sure how representative they are. I live in a town with a demographic that should be 100% trapped in upper-class white-ville angst but I don't actually meet very many parents or kids like this.
Maybe it's Oregon, my in laws in the Bay Area are more prone to this kind of behavior.
In my local area, schools are formally ranked by their average grades. This means they spend 13 years encouraging kids to believe that taking easier subjects (with better pass rates for the school) is in their own best interest.
A tremendous amount. This is really a very nice version of how things work in many Asian countries. One or two questions on an exam India decides the date of many kids, what's worse is that most agree with culture that a particular exam score is who they are and it's not really questioned. I think it is very simple minded.
Maybe it's Oregon, my in laws in the Bay Area are more prone to this kind of behavior.