Our Struggling Kids

Check out  this excellent article by Frank Bruni of The New York Times.  He looks at a rash of teen suicides among affluent Palo Alto youth, and wonders about where we’re going as a culture. In this age of growing income inequality and accompanying lack of social mobility–the Gilded Age for the 1%–kids are carrying their parents’ anxieties about their future. And that can feel pretty heavy. Bruni writes:

“Here is what Carolyn Walworth, a junior at Palo Alto High School, recently wrote: “As I sit in my room staring at the list of colleges I’ve resolved to try to get into, trying to determine my odds of getting into each, I can’t help but feel desolate.”

She confessed to panic attacks in class, to menstrual periods missed as a result of exhaustion. “We are not teenagers,” she added. “We are lifeless bodies in a system that breeds competition, hatred, and discourages teamwork and genuine learning.”’