'Back-to-School Season' Has Become a Late-Stage Capitalist Mess

Back-to-school season has, whether parents like it or not, become a full-blown cultural event. A season! Just for shopping for kids' stuff! Who needs all this? This week, we're talking the pressure to buy new clothes and supplies, and the growing number of back-to-school activities and meetups. Was August always this stressful?  Life was different then, but so was school itself. The quality of education, school resources, learning loss and changing approaches to teaching, as well as the uniquely American anxiety around active-shooter drills and school shootings—there have been major changes to school life in the last 20 years. But are things really worse off, or are we midlifers just old folks who think our way was better?