I offer the following hypothesis - competition for entry into "the best" colleges, competition for "free money" through scholarships, and competition for "good

I offer the following hypothesis - competition for entry into "the best" colleges, competition for "free money" through scholarships, and competition for "good jobs" after college has driven parents to micromanage their children's school "career." The margins for "error" - i.e. achieving suboptimal grades and cultivating interests outside of "school stuff" - have shrunk since I was a kid. This is, of course, in addition to the need for parents to acquire bragging rights about their children.