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The pressure to make ordinary children exceptional has become almost an epidemic in sports. I had high hopes for soccer, which can be played by all makes and models of children, big, small, and in between. But in most states soccer has become as competitive and selective as baseball, football, and hockey. The star mentality prevails, and the less talented youngster simply doesn't get to participate. Play is out and competition is in.
迫使普通孩子出類拔萃的壓力幾乎已經成為體育方面的一種流行病。我曾對足球寄予厚望，因為各種體質、各種類型的孩子，身材高大的、個子矮小的，以及介乎兩者之間的，都能踢足球。但在大多數州，足球已經像棒球、橄欖球和冰球一樣成為競技性的體育項目，參加者都是經過嚴格篩選的。明星心態盛行，而天賦稍遜的孩子壓根兒就沒有機會參與。玩耍已經過時，而競賽則大行其道。
The pressure for exceptionality is equally powerful at the secondary level. High school students are pressured not only to get good grades but to get into as many advanced-placement classes as possible. Around the country private tutoring centers are sprouting up like dandelions in the spring, offering lessons in everything from beginning reading to taking college entrance exams. Other parents urge their children to start dating at an early age so that they will have good interpersonal skills and a better chance to win the most eligible mates.
追求卓越的壓力在中學這個層面上同樣很大。中學生經受的壓力不僅僅是要取得好成績，還要盡量多地進入各種快班。在全國各地，私人開辦的輔導中心正在像春天的蒲公英一樣迅速出現，它們開的課從初級閱讀到大學人學考試一應俱全。其他父母則鼓勵孩子年紀輕輕 就與人約會，為的是讓他們培養良好的人際交往能力，有更好的機會贏得合意的配偶。
Clearly, there is nothing wrong with wanting children to do their best. It is not the normal, healthy desire of parents to have successful children that is the problem, but the excessive pressure some parents are putting on children.
顯然，希望孩子們竭盡全力并沒有什么不對。問題不在于父母希望孩子成功這種正常的、 健康的愿望，而在于有些家長對孩子施加了過多的壓力。
Why this push for excellence? Since parents today are having fewer children their chances ofhaving "a child to be proud of" are lower than when families were larger. The cost of child rearing has also increased dramatically, so a successful child also protects one's investment. But most of all, many of today's parents have carved out their own successful careers and feel very much in charge of their lives. They see no reason they should not take charge of child rearing in the same manner and with the same success. A successful child is the ultimate proof of their success.
為什么會有這種追求卓越的壓力呢？今天的父母生養的孩子比過去少了，所以他們有“一個值得驕傲的孩子”的機會也比子女多時減少了。養育孩子的成本也大大提高了，所以子女的成功也能保護家長的投資。但最為重要的是，今天的許多父母都是通過自己的艱苦努力才創立出一番成功的事業的，他們深深地意識到要為自己的生活負責。他們看不出有什么理由不該以同樣的方式來主管孩子的培養并取得同樣的成功。一個成功的孩子就是他們成功的最終證明。
