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I don't know whether we have a trope like that already, but I can remember it happening regularly. Another example would be the The Loud House episode "Potty Mouth" where the parents want to get Lily inscribed in a prestigious Pre-school while the rest of the kids try to avoid her from accidentally blurting out a curse.
Everything can be found on the Internet... except common sense.This is interesting. I've checked out the episode of Frasier where Frasier and Lilith scheme to get their kid into the most prestigious prep school out - reasoning that if there is such a trope, it'd be there, as they do everything up to and including offering bribes to get Frederick Crane in there. There doesn't seem to be any such trope - so the way may be clear to your writing this up for TLP?
Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.Part of an Education Mama plot?
Edited by CurledUpWithDakka I said "drop it: it's hot," not "drop it like it's hot!"Looking into it in real life a little more, it seems like this is kind of a thing for some people. Private preschools with limited slots are highly sought after and offer a number of benefits, namely smaller class sizes and more hands-on education and personality development (letting kids explore nature, science, and art in a more structured setting to guide their interests).
That said, there doesn't seem to be much research that shows this actually pays off for the child's whole life. At best it offers a head start in elementary school, but doesn't necessarily correlate to increased academic success beyond that. Well-off families that value education in all aspects of life will produce well-educated kids more often than not, but the preschool's effect on this is minimal at best. Certainly not enough to justify the insane price tag some of these "elite" schools have.
Edited by KolbyJack

A common sitcom plot where the parent(s) of a young child spend an episode stressing about getting their kid into a very exclusive and prestigious preschool, usually based on the notion that such a school will "set the course of the rest of the child's life." Off the top of my head I can recall it in episodes of 30 Rock, Brooklyn 99, Modern Family, and Full House. Usually the resolution is that the kid doesn't get in for some reason and the parents decide it's not as big of a deal as they thought.
I've only ever seen this idea on TV, so I genuinely don't know where it came from in real life. I'm sure there are rich and exclusive preschools but I doubt they have much actual impact on a child's lifetime development (that isn't already determined by them being rich).
Edited by KolbyJack