[MaxPower]

I don't consider myself one of the younger people, but this kind of thing is very familiar to me.

I went to high school in the 80s on Long Island. My community way made up of largely Jewish Nouveau Riche families whose parents had group up in Brooklyn and moved out to the 'Paradise" of Long Island. The parents and children were all obsessed with attending the best college followed by law school or medical school. My family and myself didn't really fit in. I ended up attending a decent school, but not because I strived very hard. I remember going over to my friends house. I would say, "lets go play some baseball". He would say, "lets take a practice SAT". The kids in my school talked incessantly about what they got on the SAT, what after-school activities they had for their college applications, what schools they were applying to, and what their "safety schools" were.

At that time, this type of attitude was probably somewhat rare, but now it seems to be the norm among middle class families.