My three Eagle Scouts are respectively a Sargeant, an Engineer and a Musician. The Engineer went to CMU and works at a startup in Redwood City. The Sargent did his tour of Iraq in transportation (doing vehicle recovery) and returned a little busted up; now has a MechE degree and is a process Engineer. The Musician studied at Cleveland Institute, but turned to the dark side and now works IT.

You've assumed that Harvard is, or should be, the goal of healthy parenting.

If you have kids, stop doing this to them. You're their father/mother. Love, nurture, train, and instruct them to be good people. If they go to Harvard, good for them. If not, Harvard be damned, they're your kids.

If you don't have kids yet, mature before you do.

My brothers and I were brought up in much the same way.

However, we have not all ended up in the same place. One of my brothers managed to spend over half a decade in and out of odd jobs, spending all his money on drugs (thank fuck none of the hard stuff). Me and my other brother have managed to carve out a good life for ourselves, at least by society's external measure.

People will go their own direction in life. You can prod them and help them on their journey, but you can't fundamentally change who they are.

That does not takes the genetic lottery into account.