At What Cost?: Defending Adolescent Development In Fiercely Competitive Schools

by David L. Gleason

Feeling overwhelmed, unheard, and at times disillusioned, many students act out their feelings of frustration, anger, fear, and shame in a variety of behavioral ways. Some develop persistent symptoms of anxiety and depression. Others “shut down,” refuse to do their schoolwork, and some exhibit previously nonexistent symptoms of attentional disorders—failing to play close attention to details, making careless mistakes, difficulty sustaining attention, appearing not to be listening, not following through on instructions or finishing homework12—many students turn to alcohol and marijuana for intermittent relief, while others lash out, using physical aggression or social exclusion to offset their own underlying vulnerability. Some students starve themselves or develop chronic bulimic behaviors while others repeatedly cut or burn themselves. Tragically, some commit suicide.

Students