As college admissions become ever more competitive, with the most elite schools admitting only 4 percent or 5 percent of applicants, the pressure to exaggerate, embellish, lie and cheat on college applications has intensified, admissions officials say. The high-stakes process remains largely based on trust: Very little is done in the way of fact-checking, and on the few occasions officials do catch outright lies, they often do so by chance. – The New York Times
Please, People, Stop Trying To Make ‘Pride And Prejudice’ A Christmas Story
True, there are six mentions of the word “Christmas” in the original novel. “Lest you get carried away by that number six, though, you should know that Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814) drops the word ‘Easter’ twelve times. Still, no one suggests we should add bunnies and plastic eggs to its next TV movie version.” – Literary Hub
Should Britain’s Art Courses Warn Young People About Their Futures?
Lyn Gardner says that although UK government inspector Amanda Spelman has faced a massive backlash – for good reason – some of her statements were probably fair. “Watching each year as arts graduates head into the world sometimes feels like a David Attenborough documentary showing nature at its most brutal. As thousands of young people – who have been taught to call themselves artists but not necessarily given the skills artists need to survive – head for the choppy waters of the industry, they seem like vulnerable baby turtles heading for the ocean.” – The Stage (UK)
How Yo-Yo Ma Is Turning Bach’s Cello Suites Into A Social Project
Alex Ross goes home to Washington, D.C. to watch Ma’s “day of action,” the meetings with students and community members in poor neighborhoods (in this case, Anacostia) that he combines with each concert appearance in his 36-city Bach Project. — The New Yorker