Further thoughts on this issue’s theme
A Look Back
How childhood has changed for tweens
By Phyllis L. Fagell, March 2019, pp. 8-12
Even before the widespread challenges introduced to children’s lives by the COVID-19 pandemic, parents and teachers recognized that 21st-century youths were experiencing adolescence very differently than previous generations. School counselor and author Phyllis L. Fagell described the phenomenon in a 2019 Kappan article, noting that contemporary tweens are simultaneously growing up both faster and slower due to new technologies, parenting styles, and stresses. They’re growing up faster because “parents can no longer shield their children from bad news, particularly if they’re carrying a computer around in their pocket,” Fagell explains. “In other ways,” she adds, children are “growing up slower. As they spend more time communicating online, they’re spending less time together experimenting, taking risks, and dating.”
The social world of today’s young people, meanwhile, is paradoxical at many turns. Mental health issues carry less of a stigma, Fagell writes, but kids overall are less resilient. Hate is on the rise, yet gay-straight alliances and other affinity groups are growing in popularity. The contradictions may seem confounding, but Fagell is heartened by a positive trend. “More schools are incorporating social-emotional learning into the curriculum and are proactively teaching coping strategies,” she writes. And although the challenges of this generation are many, Fagell notes there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: “Middle schoolers have always been tuned into justice and fairness, but today’s tweens are perhaps even more likely to take on an activist role, whether they lobby for gun control, the environment, or immigration rights.”
Conversation Piece
This issue of Kappan focuses on understanding today’s students. Use these questions to reflect on the topic with your colleagues:
- What differences and similarities have you observed between today’s students and students of the past?
- What recent world events do you think have had the greatest effect on students?
- Choose one recent event or trend and name some of the positive and negative effects it has had on students.
- How do you think educators should adapt their practices to meet the needs of today’s students?
PDK members have access to discussion guides related to specific articles in each issue of Kappan. Log in to the member portal and access the discussion guides.
“In this new phone-based childhood, free play, attunement, and local models for social learning are replaced by screen time, asynchronous interaction, and influencers chosen by algorithms. Children are, in a sense, deprived of childhood.” — Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation (Penguin, 2024)
Research Connections
The happiness factor
What does it mean to be happy? And how do students’ educational experiences affect their happiness? A recent Gallup survey offers insights into those questions and more. Gallup polled more than 2,000 12- to 26-year-olds in November 2023 and found that the most consequential factor driving happiness among Gen Z youth was a sense of purpose at work and school. Yet, among respondents enrolled in middle or high school, only 51% said they felt like the things they did at school or work were important. Other factors found to influence happiness include sufficient sleep and relaxation, the ability to resist social comparison, and feeling supported by and connected to those around them.
Source: Gallup. (2024). The Walton Family Foundation voices of Gen Z study: Youth happiness.
Girls at risk
Various surveys related to mental health and well-being are unequivocal: Poor mental health is on the rise in the U.S., especially among girls and young women. A 2024 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research draws on decades of survey data to establish a timeline for the decline and identify key contributing factors.
The report’s authors cite 2011 as the year when the current downturn in mental health began. External factors like the fallout from the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic are significant, but not primary causes, the authors theorize. Instead, they found Adverse Childhood Experiences to be strongly linked to mental health challenges. In particular, spending one’s childhood living with someone who is depressed has a significant impact on that child’s present and future mental health.
The authors further hypothesize that an increase in screen time and social media usage may be to blame for the rise in mental health challenges among young people. “The effect is particularly pronounced for young women where the growth in poor mental health has been most dramatic,” the report notes.
Source: Blanchflower, D.G. & Bryson, A. (2024, February). The consequences of abuse, neglect and cyber-bullying on the wellbeing of the young. [National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 32119].
“I definitely think children born [during the pandemic] have had developmental challenges compared to prior years.” — Dr. Jaime Peterson, a pediatrician at Oregon Health and Science University (The New York Times, July 1, 2024.)
Pandemic recovery continues for those hit hardest
Students with special needs, particularly English learners (ELs) and those with disabilities, were hit especially hard by the pandemic. While the average U.S. student has recovered about a third of their pandemic-era learning losses in math and a quarter in reading, data from a new report shows that vulnerable students have fared much worse. English learners’ proficiency test scores in 2023 were lower than pre-pandemic averages. And since the return to in-person schooling, chronic absenteeism rates have climbed sharply for ELs, students with disabilities, homeless students, and those in foster care.
Meanwhile, students just entering the educational system are also struggling. Principals and teachers are reporting that kindergarten students “are entering school with significant academic and social struggles, leading to higher referral rates to special education.” In 2022-23, an all-time high number of students qualified for disability services. The report calls for “targeted support and systemic reforms,” stating: “The urgency of the problems and the legal rights these students hold demand immediate and, if necessary, radical solutions.”
Source: Center on Reinventing Public Education. (2024). The state of the American student: Fall 2024.
Mental health shift
Adolescence has long been characterized by heightened emotions and social drama, so can we really say the mental health challenges today’s kids face are any different than those of prior generations? Yes, according to a new study by Canadian researchers. By using student survey data collected roughly 20 years apart from the same two high schools in Ontario, researchers found that on average, students from the current generation report higher mental health problems across high school and “more consistently elevated” levels of mental health issues over time when compared to the previous generation. The root causes of the increase are likely numerous, the report notes, with more research specifically needed on the role of technology and social media use.
Source: Borg, M.E., Heffer, T. & Willoughby, T. (2024, October). Generational shifts in adolescent mental health: A longitudinal time-lag study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
Connecting kids to school
Research shows that students who feel a sense of belonging at school are more likely to attend regularly and perform well academically. So how well are schools doing at connecting with students? A 2024 survey of more than 1,000 high school students found mixed results. Of those surveyed, 57% said that the adults in their school care about them “at least a moderate amount,” and 86% agreed that they felt accepted and welcomed in their school community.
But beyond those topline findings, researchers also uncovered pockets of concern. One in five students reported that the adults in their school “cared little or not at all” about them. In addition, LGBTQ+ students and low-income students were less likely than their peers to feel accepted by the general school community.
Source: Prothero, A. (2024, April 26). How much high schoolers think their educators care about them. Education Week.
Teens and video games
Video games play a large role in the lives of today’s teens, new data from the Pew Research Center shows. According to a 2024 survey, 85% of U.S. teens report that they play video games, with 41% saying they play at least once a day. The teens who participated in the survey see both the good and bad of gaming. A majority say video games increase their problem-solving skills and provide a social outlet. But 80% of all teens report online harassment via video games is a problem, with 41% of respondents saying they have been called an offensive name while playing.
Source: Gottfried, J. & Sidoti, O. (2024, May) Teens and Video Games Today. Pew Research Center.
This article appears in the Spring 2025 issue of Kappan, Vol. 106, No. 5-6, pp. 5-7.
