What do you get when your kid is a brat?
Pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat
Blaming the child is a lie and a shame
You know exactly who's to blame:
The mother and the father
"Oompa-Loompa Song #3,"
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

There's this interesting myth that anyone who scores 1600 on the SAT can get into the college of his or her choice. There's also the myth that a earning a 1600 means you got every question right, but that's another story.

Down in these here parts there's a bit of a hullaballoo about this kid who scored a 1600, earned 24 hours of college credit during his senior year--including passing at least five advanced placement exams--is a National Merit Scholarship finalist and, oh, yeah, attempted to start his own computer software company. Not bad.

Mark Edmonson applied to a number of schools. MIT told him no, Babson put him on a wait list and the University of North Carolina said yes.

After getting accepted at UNC, Edmonson then went on to miss 18 days of school and score a 1.3 grade point average for his senior year, including failing computer science (this is the kid who tried to start his own software company, remember?) and getting a D in American history.

When UNC received his final grades, the admissions people became a wee bit concerned and asked Edmonson to make an accounting of himself. Apparently, the meeting did not go well. In a widely-quoted e-mail, associate director of admissions Herb Davis said "his poor mother had to try and save him before I bounced him out on his pious ass."

It is interesting to note that comments like that from UNC officials don't even raise an eyebrow around here. Carolina is a fine school, but like most excellent centers of learning it has a bit of an attitude. As does young Edmonson. When big egos clash, the bigger one almost always wins. Which meant that the kid never had a chance.

Anyway, UNC rescinded its admission offer and Edmonson sued. He lost the first round, and will not be allowed to attend class while the case works its way through the courts.

I see a couple of things happening here. First, there's the culture of hyper-achievement that surrounds kids at suburban high schools these days. Get good grades, do the "right" extracurricular activities, volunteer at the old folks home (it looks good on your application), take college course work on the side, etc., etc., etc. I think any rational person can see the lunacy of putting such pressure on teenagers who, if given any leeway whatsoever, would rather kick back with a couple beers and contemplate getting laid.

But more important to me is the issue of the parents. Edmonson's "poor" mother may have tried to help him in his meeting with UNC, but she obviously hadn't prepared him properly when he was growing up. If she (and his father) had done so, here's how all this would have transpired: