My two daughters are well into high school, and there is more and more talk in our house about college. Though I hate to acknowledge it, soon I will have to help launch them away from their home and into the world. Sometimes I worry about this. Will they get into the school they like? Are they competent enough to rise above the competition? Will attendance at college these days give them what they need to be good, productive citizens?

The craze to get into an Ivy League school begins in kindergarten with parents shelling out tens of thousands of…