There are always outliers, but I believe that in America today, academic achievement is almost entirely determined by parental involvement (whether it&#x27;s time or money).<p>&gt; How do you respond to the criticism that the problems you&#x27;re describing affect only privileged kids?<p>I was really disappointed by this question and the answers the authors gave.<p>Firstly because, this kind of parenting actually does have a large impact on underprivileged kids. It&#x27;s the reason their failure is virtually guaranteed relative to the privileged kids. The underprivileged kid is one student, competing against the privileged kid, who is essentially a multi-person team of cheaters with a bankroll.<p>Secondly because, the answers the authors gave to the question pretty clearly demonstrate that they&#x27;re only thinking of this subject from their perspective. And it sounds like their perspective is that of the parents to the privileged kids.<p>This could&#x27;ve been an article about parental involvement in academics and the impact it has on fairness and meritocracy and social mobility. Instead it&#x27;s some rich ladies talking about how their kids would&#x27;ve been even more privileged if they did a little less of their homework for them.