ACHIEVEMENT CULTURE: What It’s Doing to Our Kids—and to Us

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Education, Science

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2023

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's no secret that we live in a ferociously competitive world. But what is the drive to always be the best doing to our kids? That's what journalist Jennifer Breheny Wallace wanted to know when she set out to write her new book, "Never Enough." The kids, she discovered, are not alright. Teenagers are battling burnout, depression, and anxiety at alarming rates. How did we let this happen, and what can we do to fix it? To answer these vexing but vital questions, we invited Jennifer to chat with Daniel Markovits. He's the author of "The Meritocracy Trap" and a professor at Yale Law School, where he's seen toxic achievement culture up close. In this episode, recorded live at Betaworks in New York City, Jennifer, Daniel, and Rufus discuss why our kids are under such unrelenting pressure, what we can do to give them some relief, and the potential role of new technologies, like AI, in creating positive solutions. --- Host: Rufus Griscom Guests: Jennifer Breheny Wallace & Daniel Markovits • Click here to hear Daniel's previous appearance on the show. • Want the best non-fiction books of the year delivered to your doorstep? Sign up for a Next Big Idea Club subscription at nextbigideaclub.com, and use the code PODCAST to get 20% off and a free copy of Adam Grant's new book, "Hidden Potential"!

Transcript

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1:00.0	I'm Rufus Griskam and this is the next big idea.
1:07.0	Today, achievement culture is hurting our kids and us.
1:12.0	What can we do about it? You've probably heard some of the dire news recently about the mental health of American teenagers.
1:33.7	According to the CDC, the share of teenagers who report experiencing
1:37.8	quote, persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness has nearly doubled in the last decade. And the percentage of teens
1:45.0	who say they're seriously considering suicide
1:48.0	has also risen dramatically.
1:50.0	For any parent or friend of a parent or young person listening, these numbers are frightening, to say the least.
1:57.0	But there's another piece to this story, an anomaly in the data that hasn't been as widely reported.
2:04.0	Teens everywhere are suffering from anxiety, depression, and substance abuse,
	...

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