"Oh! My little sweetums isn't going to get into Harvard* because of you!" Teaching "the entitled."

[DFW]

66. Good for her!

M wife and I always encouraged our daughters to go their own way and seek their own path. As long as they applied themselves to whatever they were doing, we were cool with it. I blew every dime of my inheritance on their USA educations, and don't regret a cent. They were very much appreciative that we didn't pressure them into this career or that. We just said, whatever you want to do, do it well, and they did.

Ironically, our elder daughter was Valedictorian of her graduating college class. Since she never expected anything of the sort, when she was told of it, she was very embarrassed at not having a clue what "valedictorian" meant. Her English was excellent by now, but that was a word she had just never run across. When she found out it meant she had to give a speech in English at graduation, she was terrified, but her school gave her some coaching, and she did fine.

**When she arrived in Dallas for her first taste of school in English, she was totally mystified at the ritual chanting performed every day before the start of class. I asked her if she was certain that's what she heard. She said she was sure, and the students all did it as if in a trance every morning. I asked her what in the world they chanted. She said it started with "I spread the peaches," and she couldn't make out the rest of it. I thought, "this can't be possible, surely the Hare Krishnas hadn't penetrated the Dallas public school system?" I asked her if they did anything else weird, and she said that yes, while they chanted, they all put their hands on their chests. NOW I got it. Her English was good, but she had never heard the words "pledge" or "allegiance" before.