The Stresses of a Young Student

The news is teeming with talk of stress, especially for high schoolers.

And as application numbers surge at prestigious colleges around the country, the pressures aren't dampening. Patch's columnist Jonathan Grundy reported in December:

The reality of the matter is that every year there is an increasing number of students who apply to and are accepted into college. In fact, between 1997 and 2007 that number increased by 37 percent! 

A recent documentary — titled "Race to Nowhere" — steps outside of the high-flying and high-achieving trajectory that the students interviewed said they feel pressured to follow, and the film asks the basic question: "for what?"

Watch the trailer for the film attached to this article and join the discussion from our submitted question:

"How many activities are too many? I am talking about private lessons and school activities. Piano lessons, violin lessons, soccer, basketball, band, dance team, some parents take their kids to Chinese language classes. Is it diminishing family time? Should kids just have time to be kids, have free time to be creative? with summer coming up, parents are lining up activities. Do we really have to do that?"