DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: The Tragedy Behind the College Admissions Scandal, as explored by Lenore Skenazy of the Free Range Kids movement:

Today’s parents are stalked by the twin fears that their kids will be kidnapped, raped and eaten — or not get into Harvard… And now we have learned of the 30 or so families who were so afraid of their kids not getting into the “right” school that they got them into the wrong schools — schools where their kids most likely did not belong. To do this, they cheated for them. There is no excuse for this…except that we are in a culture that has made childhood into a landscape barren of almost everything except college prep. To many parents, schools, and districts, admission to a “good” school is the be-all and end-all.

Read the whole thing.