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If you want to climb a mountain, don't go two steps and ask, 'How do I feel?'
Nearly all public schools offer some type of counseling, mental health or "wellness" lessons, writes Abigail Shrier in Free Press. But...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 29, 20243 min read
5 comments


Transitioning kids: 'I expected it to change everything, but I was just me with a deeper voice'
Silencing critics of transitioning children is a mistake, writes Pamela Paul in a New York Times commentary based on interviews with...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 3, 20243 min read
2 comments


Psych out: Why are we teaching kids to be hopeless and helpless?
"Anti-racists" are demoralizing black students, write Julian Adorney and Jake Mackey on Quillette. Teenage depression and suicide rates...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 30, 20242 min read
2 comments


Activism gives bored, lonely students something to do
Students who've worked hard to get into prestigious colleges don't seem to have enough to do once they get there, writes Rick Hess,...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 2, 20243 min read
6 comments


Ban phones in school: The experiment with kids' minds has failed
Smart phones are making students less smart, writes Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. Student achievement has been falling around the world...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20232 min read
6 comments


Scared and sad: Gen Z fears the world
The world is a dangerous place, teenagers and young adults believe. Members of Gen Z -- those born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 16, 20232 min read
13 comments


Lonely on campus: Students are siloed, silenced
Afraid to offend each other, college students are "siloed and silenced," creating an epidemic of loneliness on campus, writes Samuel...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 26, 20232 min read
5 comments


The therapist is online
New York City is offering free online therapy to teenagers 13 to 17 years old, reports Michael Elsen-Rooney on Chalkbeat. Teenagers can...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 19, 20231 min read
1 comment


Unsafe: Schools in high-crime communities try to cope with violence
It's all on video: A mob of teenagers punches and kicks a 17-year-old boy in an alley near his Las Vegas high school. Jonathan Lewis,...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 18, 20233 min read
1 comment


Teen angst is normal: 'Wellness' may backfire
Mental health doesn't mean feeling good all the time, writes psychologist Lisa Damour in The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 11, 20232 min read
1 comment


Teens spend 4.8 hours a day on social media, says Gallup
U.S. teenagers average 4.8 hours a day on social media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter),...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 19, 20232 min read
9 comments


I am a rockgender, I am an autismgender
When Simon and Garfunkel sang "I am a rock, I am an island," they weren't thinking about gender or sexuality. But, nowadays, rock can be...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 21, 20232 min read
3 comments


Back to 'normal' isn't enough: The Covid generation is at risk
It's time to bring back bipartisan education reform writes Fordham's Michael Petrilli. He's promoting A Generation at Risk, a "call to...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 15, 20232 min read
3 comments


Missing persons: Will absentees show up this year?
Chronic absenteeism -- missing 18+ days of a 180-day school year -- is way up, writes Ed Navigator's Tim Daly. Twenty-five percent of...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 8, 20231 min read
6 comments


Study: School closures 'largely explain' the youth mental health crisis
"School closures largely explain the deterioration of youth mental health" during the first wave of the pandemic, concludes a study in...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 1, 20231 min read
0 comments


Death wish: Contempt for parents will destroy public ed
Public schools are trouble. Trust is low. Enrollment is falling. Parents are embracing new alternatives. Is transgender policy the hill...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 25, 20232 min read
13 comments


Warning: Too much 'trauma' talk encourages fragility
I was wrong about trigger warnings, writes Jill Filipovic in The Atlantic. Writing for a feminist blog in 2008, she thought warning...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 13, 20232 min read
2 comments


Parents, just say 'no'
"Gentle parenting" is bad parenting, writes Elizabeth Grace Matthew, the mother of three young boys, in Law & Liberty. Parents who are...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 6, 20232 min read
5 comments


Let the kids play and the teenagers work
Teenagers wouldn't be so anxious, depressed and fragile if they'd spent more time playing outside with friends -- without adult...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 5, 20232 min read
0 comments


Who wants to work?
A college diploma doesn't signify academic training or job readiness any more, writes Mitch Daniels, former president of Purdue and...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 3, 20231 min read
2 comments
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