Note to the Media: Most American Families are not Rich

Po Bronson's essay in the latest issue of Time calls the media to task for hyping the problems of overscheduled, overachieving, hyper-ambitious affluent families while ignoring the very different set of challenges facing the lion's share of American families. It's completely rational for the media to focus on these issues--affluent families are the people who buy their magazines and books. But it doesn't always reflect reality or serve the public interest. This focus also has a negative impact on education policy debates, particularly when you add in the fact that most people in the policy-making class are themselves members of the affluent group. There is a lot of handwringing that kids are being pushed too hard--but the reality is that a lot of children aren't being pushed enough to develop the skills they need to succeed later in life, nor are they getting any access to the kinds of extracurricular opportunities affluent parents worry about "overscheduling" their own kids for.