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Read the latest from Making Caring Common! You’re in the right place for our media coverage, general updates, and press releases. Topics include: Access and Equity, Bias, Bullying, Caring and Empathy, College Admissions, Gender, MCC Update, Misogyny and Sexual Harassment, Moral and Ethical Development, Parenting, Romantic Relationships, School Culture, Trauma, and Youth Advisory Board.

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Read the latest from Making Caring Common!

You’re in the right place for our media coverage, blog posts, and event information. Our work spans a range of topics, all connected by our commitment to elevate caring and concern for the common good at school, at home, and in our communities. You can review what’s new below or use the dropdowns to sort by topic and category.

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Deseret News: The college admissions process poses an ethical test for parents, and many aren't passing. Here are 7 tips

Rick Weissbourd spoke with Jennifer Graham about the college admissions scandal and our new report:

“The scandal is mind-bogglingly immoral and dumb from my perspective. And it’s not really the problem. It’s a problem in the sense that it’s an awful thing, but (what the indicted parents did) is not common. What we’re writing about (in the report) is very common forms of behaviors, things that parents do that cross a line.”

Read more in Deseret News.

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Quartz: The college application process is an ethical test—and many parents are failing it

Jenny Anderson spoke with Making Caring Common’s Rick Weissbourd about the recent college admissions scandal: “‘I fear that parents won’t see themselves in this,’” he says. Of course, the alleged bribery ring was both illegal and ‘mind-bogglingly unethical and dumb.’ But the lack of consciousness about equity? He argues that’s way more common. Helping kids write their college essays, allowing them to fudge their extracurriculars or volunteering, hiring high-priced tutors to help with the applications? ‘It gives their kids unfair advantages.’” Read the full piece in Quartz.

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TODAY: After the scandal: How to parent your teen through college applications (sanely)

“Is there is a way to get through the college admissions process in a sane and healthy way?

It's possible, says psychologist Richard Weissbourd, a Harvard University Graduate School of Education professor and the faculty director for its Making Caring Common Project. But here's the catch: Parents must be willing to do some work of their own — and he doesn't mean researching colleges for their children or emailing admissions officers on their behalf.

Instead, in Making Caring Common's recently-released ‘Turning the Tide II’ report, Weissbourd and his colleagues recommend prioritizing concern for others instead of amassing personal accolades for the purpose of gaining entrance to an elite university.”

Read the full piece in TODAY.

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The Washington Post: Feel like the college application process is out of control? Here’s how to keep it ethical.

“The test isn’t to see if you can get your kid into a high-status college. It’s a test of ethical character — and a lot of parents are failing that test.” Making Caring Common’s Rick Weissbourd spoke with Jennifer Breheny Wallace about our new report on putting ethics and meaningful engagement at the center of the college admissions process. Read the full piece in The Washington Post.

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Press Release: New Report Calls on Parents and High Schools to Put Ethical Character at the Center of College Admissions

New Report Calls on Parents and High Schools to Put Ethical Character at the Center of College Admissions

“Turning the Tide II” explores the critical role of parents and high schools in supporting teens’ ethical development and dialing down achievement pressure. The report, published by the Making Caring Common project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, makes the case that an intense focus on academic achievement has squeezed out serious attention to ethical character in many high schools and families, especially in middle- and upper-income communities. With a narrow focus on high achievement and admission to selective colleges, parents in these communities often fail to help their teens develop the critical cognitive, social, and ethical capacities that are at the heart of both doing good and doing well in college and beyond. Many parents also fail to be ethical role models to their children by allowing a range of transgressions—from exaggerating achievements to outright cheating—in the admissions process.

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The New York Times: The Moral Wages of the College Admissions Mania

“Parents are trying to give their kids ‘everything’ but they’re not giving them what counts.” Making Caring Common’s Rick Weissbourd spoke with Frank Bruni about our new report on putting ethics and meaningful engagement at the center of the college admissions process. Read the full piece in The New York Times.

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Quartz: One power-broker parent exposes the bitter truth that the elite play by their own rules

Jenny Anderson spoke with Making Caring Common’s Rick Weissbourd about equity and the college admissions scandal: “The deck is so stacked against low-income kids and working class and middle class kids, and it’s getting more stacked. [Some wealthy] parents don’t seem to have any consciousness about equity.” Read the full piece in Quartz.

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