when aspiration goes too far

Aspiration is the globalization of the american dream. The idea is simple. Work hard and you will do well, get your childhood a good education and they will do better and have better things. but in a world where everyone wants their children to do better- and push them into doing more and more at a younger age- is it really worth it ? Last month, more than 300 Chinese parents took their to visit a luxury holiday villa in the southern city of Qingyuan, apparently in the hope that it would inspire the youngsters to seek riches when they grow up. having a good time with your children doesn't mean picnics or games anymore, it seems. we can see it all around us here. the tuitions for IIT or SAT examinations, where children start wrestling with getting ahead while they are barely into their teens, are obvious examples. but it's not just a developing- country phenomenon. In the UK, 'nursery consultants' charge as much as 290 an hour to place their clients' children in nurseries that will put them on the fast track to an elite university. In New York, playdate coaches charge $450 an hour to train small children in the social skills that might help secure their admission to the most prestigious private schools. This is destroying childhood. " from infancy to employment, this is a life-denying, love- denying mindset, informed not by joy or contentment, but by an ambition that is both desperate and pointless, for it cannot compensate for what it displaces:childhood, family life, the joys of summer, meaningful and productive work,a sense of arrival, living in the moment .