How to raise successful kids -- without over-parenting

The 'Top 20 Colleges' mindset has many of us in a stranglehold; Bruni walks us through the evidence that you don't have to attend a big brand name school in order to be successful and happy.

Lovely summation of the evidence that a couple hundred colleges and universities can be considered "top" in a country that has 2,800 accredited 4-year schools, and that success in life comes not from the brand name of the college you attend but from how you behave when you get to college.

On the value of going to a school one tier lower than the so-called 'best' you got into: being a big fish in a small pond.

Many of us don't intrinsically understand what makes a college experience valuable and worth the investment, so we tend to rely on Top 20 lists. Pope — the former Education editor at the New York Times — conducted extensive research into what makes a college experience truly life-changing for students. This book is a summary of Pope's conclusions, with profiles of forty small colleges whose alumni uniformly say 'This place changed my life.'

If you must look at a college rankings book, then this is the one I recommend. Designed as an unbiased assessment of how alumni have fared in the world — from finances and net worth to happiness, friendships, and intellectual engagement — as well aggregating alumni views on political and social issues, The Alumni Factor yields far greater insight the community of people who attend a particular college, what they care about, and who they become.

Research from Professor Marilynn "Marty" Rossman at the University of Minnesota also makes the case for chores. Rossman's research was based on longitudinal studies conducted by Professor Diana Baumrind at the University of California-Berkeley, and specifically found that people who are most "successful" (defined as not using drugs, having quality relationships, finishing education and getting started in a career) began doing chores at three to four years of age, whereas those who waited until their teen years to start doing chores were comparatively less successful.

Professor Richard Rende of Brown University writes about the academic and social benefits of doing chores.

Professor Edward “Ned” Hallowell at Harvard University also describes the value of chores or ‘industriousness in childhood’ as predictors of success in the workplace and well-being.

This book helps parents and educators reduce student stress while engaging kids in real learning, written by the leaders of the non-profit Challenge Success.

A gap year is a great next step for stressed-out high school graduates, and it makes them more likely to thrive in college.

How the treadmill nature of schooling and narrow definitions of success miss the whole point of life.