>>However I think it would be very hard to reverse-shame parents from competing to give their children educational advantages. These are so ingrained as the base requirement of being a ‘good parent’.
In America, yes. In Sweden it is seen as shameful to try to educate your child more than the public school system offers. (I have personally…
>>However I think it would be very hard to reverse-shame parents from competing to give their children educational advantages. These are so ingrained as the base requirement of being a ‘good parent’.
In America, yes. In Sweden it is seen as shameful to try to educate your child more than the public school system offers. (I have personally been parent shamed by my then about seven-year-old daughter's teacher because I showed her my daughter's home-math book in order to demonstrate my daughter's real level of math ability.)
This is so outlandish as to be a pathology of extreme egalitarianism which, I suppose, prevails among Swedish educationists. Nothing of normal human can be inferred from such a pathology.
Most probably it is tall poppy syndrome. I don't think most Swedes know about the American credential arms race. At least not the type of Swedes who become the teachers of young children. I have never heard anyone say "we shouldn't do this here". We just don't because there are no elite universities anyway. No elite universities, so nothing special to compete for.
Thanks for the insight into Swedish norms. I agree that in the USA (and probably most of the anglosphere) the ideal of investing in your children’s educational advantage has been mainstreamed for middle class families. Immigration from China has reinforced this, at least in New Zealand, where I live.
>>However I think it would be very hard to reverse-shame parents from competing to give their children educational advantages. These are so ingrained as the base requirement of being a ‘good parent’.
In America, yes. In Sweden it is seen as shameful to try to educate your child more than the public school system offers. (I have personally been parent shamed by my then about seven-year-old daughter's teacher because I showed her my daughter's home-math book in order to demonstrate my daughter's real level of math ability.)
This is so outlandish as to be a pathology of extreme egalitarianism which, I suppose, prevails among Swedish educationists. Nothing of normal human can be inferred from such a pathology.
"In Sweden it is seen as shameful to try to educate your child more than the public school system offers."
Is this because of tall poppy syndrome or to limit run-away credential arms races? The latter is much more reasonable imo.
Most probably it is tall poppy syndrome. I don't think most Swedes know about the American credential arms race. At least not the type of Swedes who become the teachers of young children. I have never heard anyone say "we shouldn't do this here". We just don't because there are no elite universities anyway. No elite universities, so nothing special to compete for.
Thanks for the insight into Swedish norms. I agree that in the USA (and probably most of the anglosphere) the ideal of investing in your children’s educational advantage has been mainstreamed for middle class families. Immigration from China has reinforced this, at least in New Zealand, where I live.
Shame about the weather. Summer will arrive one day.