Great book! No, really!

I'll tell you what led me to read this gem of a book. I'm a pretty devoted reader of Lynn O'Shaughnessy's College Solution Blog - not because I have some obsessive need to get my kids into Ivy League schools (not at all, in fact - I'm rabidly anti-reach-school) but because as other people fear the dark, or spiders, or snakes (OK, I don't like snakes all that much either), I fear the costs and decisions associated with sending my 3 fabulous kids off to get a higher education. Lynn's blog is a really great reality check. She recently recommended the heck out of "The Thinking Student's Guide to College" in response to "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses" a sad tale of how many college students get a Bachelor's degree with very little learned. I took my how-the-heck-am-I-going-to-afford-to-send-all-these-kids-to-college angst over to Amazon and ordered The Thinking Student's Guide (because you know... I love a good sexy read) and then, lo and behold, in the "recommended" line of that entry, I found the High School Superstar book. My first reaction was: 'Super. Another book telling kids to cram their lives with every possible AP course and heaps of meaningless and boring extracurricular activities so they can show up at their "dream school" burned out and socially retarded.' Then I actually read a little bit about the book:

In How to Be a High School Superstar, Cal Newport explores the world of relaxed superstars -- students who scored spots at the nation's top colleges by leading uncluttered and authentic lives. Drawing from extensive interviews and cutting-edge science, Newport explains the surprising truths behind these superstars' mixture of happiness and admissions success, including:

• Why doing less is the foundation for becoming more impressive, and scheduling free time is critical to success.
• Why demonstrating passion is meaningless, but being interesting is crucial.
• Why accomplishments that are hard to explain are better than accomplishments that are hard to do.

I'm now about 100 pages into the book and I have to say, I love it. It doesn't exctly tell kids to build a beer bong and have a tralala good time - what it does illustrate is the importance of avoiding burnout by carefully selecting classes, doing well on standardized tests and grades, and developing authentic interests so there is something to draw on when it's time to for those college essays and interviews (and oh yeah... the rest of our lives). The advice is practical and the message is one that I'm trying to internalize - the winner isn't necessarily the kid who has done the "most" or even the "best", it's the kid who has used (intentionally) ample free time productively to develop real interests.

Anyway, I can't recommend it enough (even though I'm self-help-book-averse) and I don't think it's ever too early to start putting the ideas into practice. I'm getting as much out of it for myself as I hope C and later, R and A, will for themselves.

I did, incidentally, buy the Thinking Student's Guide to College (and then, to hit that magic $25 total and free shipping, I added these. I've been wanting them for ages and I justified the purchase since the net cost was only about $9... don't you love how my brain works??) and I'll let you know what I think after I read it.