<p>Momzie- thank you for your perspective. I was a “counselor” on one of these trips in the late 70’s, targeted to affluent HS kids (I was in college.) My guess is that a couple of the parents thought of it as a resume booster, most of them did it because they needed to get the kid out of dodge for the summer, either because the parents were in the middle of an acrimonious divorce, the kid had fallen in with a “bad crowd”, or what-not.</p>
<p>I stayed in touch with a couple of the nicer kids for the next few years- can’t think of a single one who ended up at an elite U. I think this was more of a remedial effort for kids whose HS transcripts were so-so and the parents had hopes for them to at least get in somewhere.</p>
<p>This is not news. The WSJ likes to make it news. Since at least the 1970’s enterprising companies have packaged these overseas experiences to parents who can pay for them. I think the only news is that people who can’t afford it now feel bad that they can’t give these manufactured opportunities to their kids.</p>