[C]ollege increasingly offers a crazed social experience at the expense of rigorous study. But high school does better: It is often the last time that students are forced to learn something. Parents make their kids show up at school. More than a few teachers convey basic skills and knowledge. After-school life centers on burnishing a college application, not binge drinking. AP courses, where they exist, exploit these structured years for maximum learning.
Critics will say that “rat race” kids no longer play soccer for the joy of the game or master the violin for the beauty of the music or study history for the love of learning. Maybe. But who cares? At least something worthwhile is going on. These kids have four years of college ahead of them during which they may take as few classes as they like in subjects that require no difficult exams. They can spend their time outside the classroom drinking and “dating.” They can opt out of the rat race, and they do.
And there is no penalty. College-admissions officers go over high-school lives with a fine-tooth comb–Why didn’t she play a sport junior year? Why didn’t he continue in Spanish? But most employers don’t scrutinize a college courseload or a college GPA. The degree is all that matters.
So before the good people of Scarsdale move to end the rat race, they should reflect on its value. High school is the new college. Once those college-admissions letters arrive, their kids will stop learning and start living on easy street.