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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Academic Success: Are Teenagers Paying Too High a Price?

    Silicon Valley's Palo Alto school district is in crisis. The suicide rate for teenagers there is four to five times the national average. This tragic statistic has made the city a symbol of the pressure kids live under in affluent communities to get into elite colleges, to excel at everything, to succeed at all costs.

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    KCRW placeholderBy Barbara Bogaev • Dec 28, 2015 • 34m Listen

    Silicon Valley's Palo Alto school district is in crisis. The suicide rate for teenagers there is four to five times the national average. This tragic statistic has made the city a symbol of the pressure kids live under in affluent communities to get into elite colleges, to excel at everything, to succeed at all costs. This week, as high school seniors and their families gather around computers racing to finish their college applications, we ask whether the obsession with getting into the best colleges is hurting kids more than helping them, and what schools, parents and students can do lessen the stress.

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Students and the Pressure to Perform
    1. 1:40Iraqi Forces Declare Victory over ISIS in Ramadi
    2. 8:22Academic Success: Are Teenagers Paying Too High a Price?You’re reading this
    3. 43:30Controversial Comfort Women Settlement between Korea and Japan
    • KCRW placeholder

      Barbara Bogaev

      radio journalist

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Jenny Hamel

      KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Paul von Zielbauer

      Co-founder of Geezer magazine, former producer for To the Point and Which Way LA?; former reporter for the New York Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      Suniya Luthar

      Arizona State University

    • KCRW placeholder

      Julie Lythcott-Haims

      Stanford University (formerly)

    • KCRW placeholder

      Gwyeth Smith, Jr.

      independent college counselor

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Students and the Pressure to Perform
    1. 1:40Iraqi Forces Declare Victory over ISIS in Ramadi
    2. 8:22Academic Success: Are Teenagers Paying Too High a Price?You’re reading this
    3. 43:30Controversial Comfort Women Settlement between Korea and Japan
    Back to To the Point