When i was in hs, we started a new robotics club, in our first year we went to nationals, we had a kid who literally did nothing for the club but wanted some ki

When i was in hs, we started a new robotics club, in our first year we went to nationals, we had a kid who literally did nothing for the club but wanted some kind of title in the club (i didn't understand why at that time because i came from a type of household where my parents never cared enough to even see my report card), he was in no way exceptional except his parents pushed him to work hard so that he got good grades. I bet he wrote a college essay about his passion for robotics and how he had helped build this successful robotics teams that did fairly well at nationals. He went to Harvard. In high school, for every person i saw who valued learning for its own sake, i saw about 10 people who were obsessed with grades/ec's because their parents told them that going to prestigious university x was their only hope for a future (I don't necessarily blame the kids when it is mainly the parents driving the show). I think this kind of attitude towards college and education is pernicious because i believe a society which moves towards an excessive superficial emphasis on brand names (not only in terms of college but in terms of acceptable lifestyles/professions) moves away from individuality into a collective type of society and i strongly believe revolutionary creativity which could advance society always come from individuals.