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[quote=Anonymous]We destroyed childhood and young adulthood. We made it competitive, stressful, and pressure filled. You used to be allowed to be lazy and idle in your youth, to experiment and try stuff out without major consequences.

Now kids are told at a very young age that their grades and test scores even starting in elementary school can have lifelong impacts (for admission to G&T programs or magnet schools). College has become absolutely essential even for many fields that didn't use to require it, at the same time that it's become prohibitively expensive and it's increasingly competitive to get into even average state colleges (because everyone feels pressure to go). The rise of the two-income family has coincided with intensifying job expectations and constant connectivity to work, so families that used to have real downtime where kids could be home with one or both parents with few demands on anyone, now have intense schedules coordinating childcare, two jobs, kid's activities and academic commitments (remember you can't slack, you have to be go go go or you might never get a college degree and thus never get a job).

We've also totally privatized childrearing. Kids don't play in the street or at the neighborhood park anymore, they no longer have more cohesive community through their schools. They are in private childcare or activities, public schools are overwhelmed and don't perform the community role they used to. Fewer families go to church so they don't get that support there. So now these parents, who are working more than ever, are also independently responsible for teaching their kids how to be people and navigate the world, either personally or via people they pay to do it.

We destroyed childhood. We destroyed summer, we destroyed after school, we ruined school sports and activities. We ruined academics with a fixation on test taking and benchmarking over wholistic learning, sustained attention, and deep learning. Oh yeah, and we addicted everyone to personal device screens which numb and distract but actually diminish happiness as they replace interpersonal interactions and physical activity, which are both known to boost endorphins and happiness.

We messed it up folks, but it's not too late. We can fix it. But step one is to acknowledge we have a problem.[/quote]

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