Privilege and pressure,

OPINION

Letters: The price of an 'elite' education

October 30, 2013

Re "Privilege and pressure," Oct. 28 The article asks whether standards are too high at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City. The real question is whether standards have sunk too low. At some private schools, the pursuit of excellence is now a smoke screen for meeting the narcissistic needs of parents, helping them compete in an overprivileged class where they demand the very best of everything. Truly great schools focus on the rounded development of the whole student. So when the emotional health of children becomes less important than bragging rights about the number of elite college acceptance letters or having the best stats to put in a brochure, that school needs to raise its standards.