Posted on 11/18/2019 3:16:11 PM PST by BruceDeitrickPrice
Someone asked this question on Quora:Is there a flaw to the American school system? Why do so many teens have depression? Why don’t people do anything about it?
My answer: Okay, let’s suppose you’re a ninth-grade student in the school system. What are some reasons you might feel anxious and depressed?
First, you sense from the early grades nothing very serious is going on in your school. People never really learn to read. They don’t know any geography, any history, any science. Many students can hardly add and subtract. People sometimes think that taking it easy is a good idea. Yes, maybe for a week or two. But if you feel that your whole school year is a waste of time, you’re not going to be happy.
Second, the school is unnecessarily violent and chaotic. Kids hurt each other, they hurt teachers, they do what they want, at least some of them do. You know you’re in danger. You know you have to be careful not to offend students who are known to be dangerous.
Third, the teachers and administrators tell you continuously that there are many genders. You’re encouraged to wonder which one you are. This is very unsettling. They won’t let you be one thing or another.
Fourth, school officials warn you constantly, the world is coming to an end some way or another. Everybody will be dead in a decade or two. It’s scary to be reminded of this every day.
Fifth, random drills, with violent cops and guns, can interrupt school life at any time. You never feel really safe. You’re stressed out all the time. What’s the point of living like this? Maybe you should just end it, that’s what some friends say.
Sixth, almost everybody cheats, on their homework, on their tests, on their essays. Some people say that’s why we’re in school, to learn how to cheat. That’s what you need to get ahead in a bad world.
Seventh, everything is apparently a lie. Everything taught in the school says that things taught somewhere else are lies. Fake news is everywhere. What can you believe?
Eighth, nobody is sure what their grandparents believed but you are sure they were wrong. Their ideas are all silly, about religion, patriotism, honesty is the best policy, be all you can be. Unfortunately you didn’t find out the ideas that aren’t silly. Life feels very empty. Of course you’re depressed.
CODA: as for doing something about this, maybe some politicians want to exploit this sadness and depression. The kids are so lost and adrift, they can be persuaded to believe anything.
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Bruce Deitrick Price’s most recent book is Saving K-12.
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Teens are depressed because they are relentlessly taught that they are at fault for things they barely understand and have no control over. They are also going through the most heavily hormonized time of their lives. They are taught that literally nothing they may have learned 5 or 10 years ago has any applicability at all, and now, should they transgress the “new thinking” inculcations currently in vogue, they may even be punished. They are taught that anything traditional must be shunned. Anything they once thought they understood about history or societal norms is to be rejected.
In essence, every rug under their feet is being yanked out with ever increasing velocity and that nothing they instinctively believe, larval as those instincts may be, is wrong. Automatically. Any remnants of their childhood in the form of innocence is being shattered.
And finally, everywhere and in every segment of society, victimization is the highest aspiration they can aspire to.
It’s no wonder they are depressed.
Gender confusion
We've lost track of what's important in life. I truly believe that.
Adding the “S” to PTSA.. Who told these students they have a say in their education? They go to school to be educated, they don’t have an opinion worth much yet.
To be fair, I was depressed throughout Junior High School...and this was in the 1970’s. Had nothing to do with the politics of the day, just had to do with being a pimply insecure teenager.
Bingo.
The highest correlation between bullying, violence, law breaking, illiteracy, poverty, maternal mortality, infant mortality... is... single parent households.
Which do you think is the cause and which is the effect?
Ya, its the getting up early /S, because the chinese don’t get up until 6 PM EST, and the russians, they don’t get up early either. and Your D.I. will gladly let you get your beauty rest in Boot camp, or your boss would hate to impose on your morning rest.. Getting out of bed at all is child abuse.. /s..
So much easier to bully BEHIND a cell phone bullying face to face takes SOME courage!! Then like you said the PACK mentality, just like what we deal with MOB rule!!! Then of course the bullies can send their HATE and RUMORS far and wide making the bullying far worse for kids!! I am SO HAPPY when I was a kid we did not have cell phones we actually GOT OUT and socialized with each other we all got along with each other!!!
Many HS students know more than their teachers.
And when you’re smarter than your teacher, school really sucks.
“Now it is far more common, there are packs of bullies”
Yep, also back in our day once the bullied kids left the school grounds they were safe from the bullies at night, weekends and summer vacation for the most part.
Today once the bullies get home they get on social media and continue to torment the poor kids there as well.
I really feel for todays kids. It sucks.
If a school system brought Him back into schools, one, just one person against it would prevent it. Just one.
No academic standards.
No behavior standards.
EXCEPT in rural schools, mostly white.
If the only voices you hear are leftists, there is no sunlight - there is no hope - there is no salvation.
I wonder why children subjected to this abuse are depressed and frightened?!?
Gaming
Ritalin
As a clinician in family practice, I’ve had to treat scads of kids for anxiety and depression.
Two words: social media.
I’ve had kids sobbing and falling apart in front of me ....feeling so sad because their lives can’t measure up to what they see on instagram and facebook.
Combine that with the Godless one world order crap in the schools, the fact that they can’t leave these kids the hell enough alone about all their “gender roles” ....
Kids can’t be kids. They’re confronted with SO much before their brains are built to handle it.
We’re literally killing them ....one way or another. Even the so-called “strong” ones have many chinks in their armor. Some of THEM fall even harder.
And don’t get me started on the heroin.
If I was a kid I”m not sure I’d want to live either.
If I was raising kids now I’d join an Amish colony or go underground and raise my kids far away from all this madness.
The schools are inculcating despair. Maybe not explicitly as such, but that is still what they are doing.
Progressive Parenting is poison.
There must be depression to justify paying for all of the self esteem training and mental health professionals in our schools. Got it?
You will NOT grow up and enjoy a happy, free, prosperous life.
The world is going to die and it’s your fault.
Your country is evil and bigoted.
Your parents are evil, bigoted people.
You are a bad person, because of your skin color.
You should hate yourself for being born.
The world would be a better place without people like YOU!
Now all you children go out to recess! Have fun and come back ready to learn more!
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