fantastic new york magazine article on the way our high school experience can have far-reaching effects excerpts a moment from Rookie mag:
Among the wisest essays came from Winnie Holzman, the creator of My So-Called Life: “In high school,” she wrote, “we become pretty convinced that we know what reality is: We know who looks down on us, who is above us, exactly who our friends and our enemies are.” The truth of the matter, wrote Holzman, is that we really have no clue. “[W]hat seems like unshakable reality,” she concluded, “is basically just a story we learned to tell ourselves.”
pressure, college admissions, and drug abuse among high school students in the nyt
“… some experts note that the survey does not focus on the demographic where they believe such abuse is rising steadily — students at high-pressure high schools — and also that many teenagers barely know that what they often call “study drugs” are in fact illegal amphetamines. “Isn’t it just like a vitamin?” asked one high school junior from Eastchester, a suburb of New York.”“
a research study of adolescents that demonstrates that reading Twilight and Harry Potter improves their ability to empathize in the guardian
“The findings could, Oatley believes, have significant implications, particularly in a climate where arts funding is under threat. "It is the first empirical finding, so far as I know, to show a clear psychological effect of reading fiction,” he said. “It’s a result that shows that reading fiction improves understanding of others, and this has a very basic importance in society, not just in the general way making the world a better place by improving interpersonal understanding, but in specific areas such as politics, business, and education. In an era when high-school and university subjects are evaluated economically, our results do have economic implications.”
