The Vanishing American Adult
by Ben Sasse · first published 2017
5mentions
2recommended by
2HN commenters
2017–2022first – last mentioned
100% recommend
America's youth are in crisis. Raised by well-meaning but overprotective parents and coddled by well-meaning but misbegotten government programs, they are ill-equipped to survive in our highly-competitive global economy. Many of the coming-of-age rituals that have defined the American experience since the Founding -- learning the value of working with your hands, leaving home to start a family, becoming economically self-reliant -- are being delayed or skipped altogether. The statistics are daunting: 30% of college students drop out after the first year, and only 4 in 10 graduate. One in three
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…out on? Having teachers ignore you and spend 90% of their time dealing with problem kids? The petty drama? How many people look back fondly on K-12 and think “man, that was great?” Read Sasse’s “the vanishing American adult.” It’s got some great commentary on what’s wrong with modern school. We take kids, and instead of having them be around adults to socialize them, we let them loose on their own little child-dominated…
on “Outschooling” ↗…comment to be construed as a partisan hack, which is the last thing in the world that will bring about any real unity in the country. Anyways, you might be interested in Senator Ben Sasse's book, "The Vanishing American Adult", or other of his writings (his twitter account is often amusing.) https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-American-Adult-Coming-Crisi... From a review on The Atlantic: "He believes Americans have lost their…
on “Ask HN: How might we create a more United America?” ↗I don't think I agree with that. I'm a big fan of Sasse's "the Vanishing American Adult." He points out that what you call "teenage cringe" is a fairly modern construct. For most of human history, teenagers were integrated into the adult world, not set apart and left to their own devices…
on “College-educated workers are taking over the American factory floor” ↗Ben Sasse covers this extensively in “the Vanishing American Adult.” In particular the artificiality of the highly age-segregated nature of modern schools. Kids have always hung out with kids, but those kids had a wide range of ages and older kids taught younger kids.
on “The war on gifted education” ↗…deeply dysfunctional and I’m not convinced it prepares you well for socializing in real life. Children are antisocial and schools are an instance of the inmates running the asylum. Ben Sasse’s book “the Vanishing American Adult” points out that the modern child-centric school system is an extremely recent invention. Back in the day, children were socialized by hanging out around adults who could teach them how to be humans.…
on “I would never send my kids to school (2017)” ↗