So, I’m posting this for my 10th grader to read. I want her to see her competition and the lengths they’ll go to so that they can get into Ivy League schools. We aren’t even trying for Ivy League schools but I think it’s important for her to realize that she can’t fight me on doing what it takes to make high honors and to take AP English next year (she didn’t want to take it because it was going to be too much work — do you see what I’m going through over here?) because competition for college is fierce all over and these kids who aren’t going to make it into Harvard, Yale or Princeton may try for one of the lesser colleges that we might be trying to get into.

SEOUL, South Korea — It is 10:30 p.m. and students at the elite Daewon prep school here are cramming in a study hall that ends a 15-hour school day. A window is propped open so the evening chill can keep them awake. One teenager studies standing upright at his desk to keep from dozing.
Kim Hyun-kyung, who has accumulated nearly perfect scores on her SATs, is multitasking to prepare for physics, chemistry and history exams.
“I can’t let myself waste even a second,” said Ms. Kim, who dreams of attending Harvard, Yale or another brand-name American college. And she has a good shot. This spring, as in previous years, all but a few of the 133 graduates from Daewon Foreign Language High School who applied to selective American universities won admission.