From a 2016 post at the blog of Boston psychology professor Dr. Peter Gray on a topic I think about more and more now that I’ve seen up close how the continuous, inescapable stressor that is public school life (i.e. pushy, condescending instructors who train kids to take certain tests well) can have on a shy, sensitive child:
“Children now often spend more time at school and at homework than their parents spend at their full-time jobs, and the work of schooling is often more burdensome and stress-inducing than that of a typical adult job. A century ago we came to the conclusion that full-time child labor was child abuse, so we outlawed it; but now school is the equivalent of full-time child labor. The increased time, tedium, and stress of schooling is bringing many kids to the breaking point or beyond, and more and more people are becoming aware of that. It can no longer be believed that schooling is a benign experience for children. The evidence that it induces pathology is overwhelming.”
