APRIL 28-MAY 4, 2016
GAZETTE
OPINION
Generation stressed
THE CENTRE COUNTY
403 S. Allen St., State College, PA 16801 Phone: (814) 238-5051 Fax: (814) 238-3415 www.CentreCountyGazette.com
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2015 indicated that the demand for I heard the countdown of the top counseling and professional support songs on my car radio over the weekservices has increased by almost 30 end. Sitting at No. 9 is a song called percent over the past five years year “Stressed Out” by the group Twenty (compared to enrollment increases of One Pilots. The lyrics seem to sugapproximately 5 percent during that gest that the singer is longing for the same time). Anxiety, stress and dedays past with no stress, no student pression are the top reasons why stuloans and a simpler time of imagidents are seeking help innation, play and not having cluding a disturbing numresponsibilities. ber of students who report “We used to play prean increased risk of threat tend, give each other differto self. ent names, Sadly, the statistics for We would build a rocket non-college student Milship and then we’d fly it far lennials are consistent with away, their university counterUsed to dream of outer parts. The 18-33 year old space but now they’re cohort reports being most laughing at our face, stressed about work, money Saying, ‘Wake up, you and relationships. need to make money.’” Where is the stress comThe refrain of the song ing from? Can the kids of goes like this: the “wrapped in cotton” “Wish we could turn generation really be more back time, to the good ol’ Patty Kleban, stressed than the young days, who writes for adults who faced the draft When our momma sang StateCollege.com, and the threat of real harm us to sleep but now we’re is an instructor at Penn State, in both the World War II stressed out.” and Vietnam eras? A quick check of Wikipe- mother of three and a community The answers may be in dia indicates that the lead volunteer. She is a what we are doing to help singer of Twenty One Pilots Penn State alumna them develop coping mechis 27 years old. who lives with her anisms. In other words, we According to the re- family in Patton may be overdoing it. search, while overall lev- Township. Her I read an interesting blog els of reported stress and views and opinions last week in which the auanxiety for Americans are do not necessarily decreasing, Millennials reflect those of Penn thor surveyed parents, secondary teachers and univer(those ages 18-33) are the State. sity instructors to dig into exception. Young adults what has become a cultural hamster self-report anxiety issues more than wheel of sports, academics, grade any other age cohort and those levels inflation and college students who appear to be rising. can’t cope. Parents blamed it on uniThis is the last week of the semesversities because of exorbitant tuition ter at Penn State. Final exams are and impossible admission criteria. next week. My colleagues and I anticTeachers blamed it on parents for not ipate we will be seeing more students letting their kids fail, creating learned in advising appointments or who are helplessness but then demanding As looking for support over the next two for what used to be C work. Universiweeks. As Mel Brooks said, this is high ties say that the helicopter parents anxiety. have ill-prepared students for the What is happening to this generareal world and what will eventually tion that is causing so much anxiety? be workplace competition and sucThe answers aren’t easy. cess based on effort and motivation Millennials, both college stuinstead of handholding. dents and their non-college counIn the meantime, those increasing terparts, report significant levels of number of students at universities stress. Penn State’s Center for Colwho are seeking out counseling idenlegiate Mental Health’s report from
PATTY KLEBAN
GRAPHIC DESIGN Laura Specht Beth Wood INTERNS Jennifer Fabiano Geena Goozdich Jane Mientkiewicz
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Organizers appreciate support of community On Saturday, Feb. 13, the Second Annual Avery Milanese Cystic Fibrosis Bowling Tournament was held at Bellefonte Lanes and raised over $1,200. Avery participates in the Saturday morning youth bowling program from September through the end of February. This year we had 86 participants come out to support this wonderful cause. Following are the winners: First place: Ashley Heeman and Mike Drobeck, first place; Thomas and Jamie Delahoy; second place; Gene Brickley and Ricky Rogers, third place; Jim Kane and Ray McGhee, fourth place; Drew Betlyon and Kevin Devin, fifth place; Kacey Weyant and Dakota Bowman, sixth place; Noah and John Siegle, seventh place; Delmer Dashem and Cordy Chambers, eighth place. We would also like to thank the following businesses who donated gifts for the auction: Bellefonte Wok, Brother’s Pizza (two locations), Burger King, Chen’s Mongolian Buffett, Chick-Fil-A, CO2, Confer’s Jewelers, Cracker Barrel, Dairy Queen, Edible Arrangement, Garfield’s Giant (two location), Holiday Hair Nittany Mall, Jabebo Studies, Jim’s Italian Restaurant, Kay Jewelers, Little Mamma’s Pizza, Olde New York, Outback Steakhouse, Papa John’s, Pizza Mia, Quaker Steak and Lube, Red Horse, Red Lobster, Rey Azteka, Sam’s Club, Starbucks, Subway (Northland Plaza), Sweet Frog, Texas Roadhouse, The Blonde Bistro, The Cove, TNails, Tractor Supply, Trader Joe’s, Tussey Mountain, UEC Theater, Waffle Shop (Bellefonte), Weis Markets (three locations) and Woodring’s Floral. LuAnn Jaworski Bellefonte
Unless labeled as a Gazette editorial, all views on the Opinion page are those of the authors.
tify anxiety, stress and depression as their primary complaints. Anecdotally, I have seen more students in classes and in advising who have real and serious anxiety disorders. I’m not talking butterflies before an exam. I’ve seen kids who are almost paralyzed with anxiety and who need accommodations to be successful. The number of students who share with us that they are taking anti-anxiety meds is shocking. It has further been suggested that drug and alcohol use by Millennials may not all be about partying to black out but may, in fact, be related to the attempt to self-medicate. So, what do we do? Posing a problem is only helpful if we can pose solutions. My suggestion? We all need to back off. Let’s stop the crazy train of advanced classes and no lunch period so they can take extra classes for middle-schoolers. Let’s stop dragging kids and their travel teams to sporting competitions in lieu of letting them just free play with their friends. Let’s stop blaming their teachers and doing their homework for them. Let’s limit their time on “Falsebook” and other social media that creates a feeling of “my life isn’t as good or as fun or as cool as my friends.” Let’s stop having graduation ceremonies at pre-schools. Let’s agree to give them more recess, less standardized testing and offer opportunities to learn and shine in their own terms and on their own timeline. Let’s give them permission to fail and to learn that when we stumble it’s the getting back up that makes the difference. Let’s promise them quality family time even if it’s just a dinner around a table with everyone sharing or a trip to Meyers Dairy to all get ice cream. Let’s let them pretend, give other different names and play rocket ship so they can fly, fly away. Let’s let our kids be kids first before we expect them to be adults. Maybe then, when they become adults, they will be ready for it.
Pentagon testimony amounts to ‘fog of lies’ By the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette In war, the confusion generated by fighting and killing is often referred to as “the fog of war” at the Pentagon. According to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group committed to changing how the military handles sexual misconduct allegations, a “fog of lies” has been standard operating procedure at the Pentagon, too. Protect Our Defenders uncovered an effort by the Pentagon to undercut support for a Senate bill that would strip military commanders of their authority to decide which sexual assault complaints go forward to trial.
According to internal government records used to buttress the Pentagon’s argument, civilian authorities are less likely to hold people in the military responsible for sexual assault than military prosecutors are. Not so. The number of cases brought by local district attorneys and police against those in the military was either dramatically low-balled or omitted completely. This shady data even alleges that military authorities aggressively prosecute sexual assaults where civilian authorities refuse to, which is the opposite of what happens in reality. The Pentagon’s testimony before
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Congress was a series of untruths designed to undermine efforts to move jurisdiction for prosecuting sex crimes from the military to civilian authorities. Protect Our Defenders wasn’t able to find one case of sexual assault that was prosecuted over the objections of civilian authorities. The military stands by its characterization of the data, which is a standard response. Someone in the Pentagon hierarchy should be held responsible. Even if the military wasn’t consciously lying during its testimony, this episode doesn’t bode well for its ability to interpret straightforward data.
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