Ep. 71 - Ending the Fragility Crisis Among Our Kids

While curmudgeonly complaining about “kids these days” is nothing new, it’s hard to deny that there’s cause for genuine concern about America’s youngest generations. The combination of radicalism and ignorance displayed in campus protests may be a variation on an old theme in higher education, but the fragility and emotional instability of these Gen Z students is notable. And even among their younger peers the effects of pandemic learning loss and years of screen addiction are evident in the aimlessness and prevalence of mental health issues in America’s children. Underneath all of these trends are a set of ideas and attitudes toward parenting that have grown in their prevalence in recent decades. This episode features Lenore Skenazy and Andrea Keith from Let Grow, an organization dedicated to promoting childhood independence, along with John Tomasi, who leads Heterodox Academy in its mission to push back against troubling trends on campus and restore academic values like free inquiry and civil debate.