<p>Maybe neither parent or child are status/prestige driven. Some kids are self-driven and I believe that is an inherent trait that surfaces long before a child is conscious of "status" or "prestige." </p>
<p><<few would="" hope="" their="" child="" to="" forgo="" the="" advantages="" of="" harvard="" and="" build="" a="" shack="" on="" walden="" pond.="">></few></p>
<p>If that's what my child wanted to do, count me among the few. </p>
<p>Some parents "just" want their kids to be happy, healthy, safe and sane. And some parents (and kids) don't let others define "status" or "prestige" or "success" for them; they define it for themselves. </p>
<p>and I'll end with a quote from our aforementioned literary genius:</p>
<p><<"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.">> Thoreau</p>