Existentialists emphasize self-determination and self-reliance as individuals. It is consistent with that most popular image of the philosophy as a lone person adrift on an ice floe. You are on-your-own! It is all about the individual, not the family, not the village, not part of any identity politics -- just the lonely individual.
The documentary Race to Nowhere by Vicki Abeles is a fascinating look into the amount of emotional pressure on teenagers today, a result of too many expectations. They are over-worked with homework and over-scheduled with sports and over-anxious about college acceptance. Oh, by the way, the teenage years have always been difficult enough with social acceptance by peers and with those immature minds inside those mature bodies -- don't you remember?
Although not discussed in the film, I suspect this tendency to over-schedule teenagers grew out of the drug wars -- keep your kids too busy to slip into the drug culture. You know --"idle hands are the devil's tools" and all that. It was a moral necessity to keep your kid as busy as possible. Applying more pressure to get into college also helped keep them busy. Besides, parents get "bragging rights" about how hard their kids are working.
In addition, "No Child Left Behind" legislation under the Bush II Administration put enormous emphasis on test scores, consistent with our culture of the "metrification" of everything. There is the belief that everything can be quantified, especially learning . . . or memorizing.
Looking through the lenses of existentialism, I feel the pain of those pressured teenagers, but they are individuals adrift on an ice floe in a cultural river of numbers. While they must figure it out for themselves, other individuals can throw ropes to the teenagers. Society is too metrified and cannot help.
I'm glad my teenage years are far behind me. But, maybe, I could mentor some stressed-out teenager?
The documentary Race to Nowhere by Vicki Abeles is a fascinating look into the amount of emotional pressure on teenagers today, a result of too many expectations. They are over-worked with homework and over-scheduled with sports and over-anxious about college acceptance. Oh, by the way, the teenage years have always been difficult enough with social acceptance by peers and with those immature minds inside those mature bodies -- don't you remember?
Although not discussed in the film, I suspect this tendency to over-schedule teenagers grew out of the drug wars -- keep your kids too busy to slip into the drug culture. You know --"idle hands are the devil's tools" and all that. It was a moral necessity to keep your kid as busy as possible. Applying more pressure to get into college also helped keep them busy. Besides, parents get "bragging rights" about how hard their kids are working.
In addition, "No Child Left Behind" legislation under the Bush II Administration put enormous emphasis on test scores, consistent with our culture of the "metrification" of everything. There is the belief that everything can be quantified, especially learning . . . or memorizing.
Looking through the lenses of existentialism, I feel the pain of those pressured teenagers, but they are individuals adrift on an ice floe in a cultural river of numbers. While they must figure it out for themselves, other individuals can throw ropes to the teenagers. Society is too metrified and cannot help.
I'm glad my teenage years are far behind me. But, maybe, I could mentor some stressed-out teenager?
