Child's Play? Memories of 'Nursery' Admissions

Sixteen years ago, as a young mother, I went through the Nursery school admission process.

The playschools coached us and the kids. They held special seminars before the admission season where experts came to give talks (and everyone from book publishers to health food and insurance companies sponsored the events). 

The school principal almost ‘forbade’ me to go to my hometown for my younger kids’ birth (in February) because the elder kid’s admission ‘season’ began in October of that year.

If you think I was ‘hyper’ to give in to the pressure, let me tell you that:

• One of the schools used to give out only a limited number of forms on a first-come, first-serve basis; starting from 8:00 am in the morning. People queued up from the previous night.
• A family we heard of, had converted to another religion to get their kids admitted in a sought-after school.
• People shift residences to meet the address criteria of well-known schools. To counter this, one of the schools wanted prospective parents to provide proof of residence for the previous five years. (Maybe that inspired the idea behind one of the most contentious bills in our country).
• here were coaching classes for three-year-olds and special sessions for parents. This was eighteen years ago, now I hear the kids don’t have any tests/interviews. Maybe the parents go through extra-special-sessions now.
• One of the schools had written tests for parents. Both parents had to appear for the same test, sitting in different rooms-I guess the answers were then compared. I wonder what they did after that.
• Application Forms asked for our qualifications, qualifications of maternal grandfather and grandmother, paternal grand grandfather and grandmother only.
• One form asked us to list the most important people we knew in the fields of education, music, sports, arts, etc.
• Most forms asked, “How can you contribute to the school?”
• I guess the question asking, “What make of cars your family owns?” wasn’t even surprising.

We went through that whole experience and managed to get the kid into a great school. We kept photocopies of all filled-in forms because I was pregnant and would need to start preparing for the other one soon.

Wow! This was such an awesome exercise in confidence building.

Of course, I can handle college admission. I can handle it twice too.