--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: the list was a smoke screen: ten…" description: "\"“the list was a smoke screen: ten applications would be made on the pretense of this being a meritocratic process. But the first-choice school would ha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e43/lacy-crawford-178460_young-minds_the-list-was-a-smoke-screen-ten-applicat_1119091.jpg" --- # the list was a smoke screen: ten applications would be… ![“the list was a smoke screen: ten applications would be made on the pretense of this being a meritocratic process. But the first-choice school would have opened a file on the child once his PSATs were posted. The result was already assured. For Anne, much of the work lay in managing these lists…” quote by Lacy Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e43/lacy-crawford-178460_young-minds_the-list-was-a-smoke-screen-ten-applicat_1119091.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e43/lacy-crawford-178460_young-minds_the-list-was-a-smoke-screen-ten-applicat_1119091.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e43/lacy-crawford-178460_young-minds_the-list-was-a-smoke-screen-ten-applicat_1119091.jpg) > ““the list was a smoke screen: ten applications would be made on the pretense of this being a meritocratic process. But the first-choice school would have opened a file on the child once his PSATs were posted. The result was already assured. For Anne, much of the work lay in managing these lists. How to carve, from the great shared dream of college destiny, a range to fairly suit each child? And how then to help bring round the parents, in their bafflement and their shame? More accurately, how to awaken these families from a fantasy that held colleges up bright and shining and implacably steady in character, to reveal each as just what it was—a living, breathing institution—struggling to serve young minds weaned on ambition and fear and heading into a job market that matched conscription to greed and made interns of all the rest? Take Middlebury: one thought immediately of all the blond kids with a green streak, the vegans, the skiers. Take the Ivies: the Euro kids wanted Brown. Jews, Yale or Penn. WASPs wanted Princeton. Cold athletes Dartmouth. Hot athletes, Stanford. Cornell was big and seemed possible but Ithaca was a high price to pay. Columbia for the city kids. Everyone wanted Harvard, if only to say they got in. Then the cult schools. Tufts, Georgetown, Duke. Big”” [Lacy Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lacy-crawford/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Discusses how admissions processes mask inequities, creating a false meritocratic illusion. **In simple terms:** Admissions hide inequities behind merit myth. Key Takeaway Expose and reform hidden biases. Themes education equity meritocracy Mood critical thoughtful Type Education:1 Young minds:0 Wanted Harvard:0 Wanted Princeton:0 College Destiny:0 Choice School:0 Conscription Greed:0 When to use this quote - college counseling - parent guidance Key Concepts social justice policy analysis Questions to Reflect On - What reforms could make admissions fairer? - How does myth of merit affect students? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Choice School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choice-school-3018371/) [College Destiny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/college-destiny-3018370/) [Conscription Greed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscription-greed-3018372/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Wanted Harvard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wanted-harvard-2787777/) [Wanted Princeton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wanted-princeton-3018369/) [Young minds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-minds/) ## Related quotes > [“Students who attend what they considered to be their first-choice school were less likely to persist in a biomedical or behavioral science major,” they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/students-who-attend-what-they-considered-to-be-their-first-choice/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [My grandparents really wanted me to go to Harvard. 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But the first-choice school would have opened a file on the child once his PSATs were posted. The result was already assured. For Anne, much of the work lay in managing these lists. How to carve, from the great shared dream of college destiny, a range to fairly suit each child? And how then to help bring round the parents, in their bafflement and their shame? More accurately, how to awaken these families from a fantasy that held colleges up bright and shining and implacably steady in character, to reveal each as just what it was—a living, breathing institution—struggling to serve young minds weaned on ambition and fear and heading into a job market that matched conscription to greed and made interns of all the rest? Take Middlebury: one thought immediately of all the blond kids with a green streak, the vegans, the skiers. Take the Ivies: the Euro kids wanted Brown. Jews, Yale or Penn. WASPs wanted Princeton. Cold athletes Dartmouth. Hot athletes, Stanford. 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