Show Notes
Young people in America are struggling. The causes are varied and may not be entirely clear, but the results are unfortunately unmistakable. Many of our youth feel lonely, isolated or depressed and struggle to see a future where they can buy a house, have a family or feel connected to their community. The two panelists in this talk from the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival bring a distinct expert perspective, filling out the picture of how to come to the aid of young people and prevent these patterns from repeating. The U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has issued advisories on the youth mental health crisis and raised the alarm about social media use. Kaya Henderson is the executive director of the Center for Rising Generations at the Aspen Institute, after spending years as an educator and entrepreneur. Both see the need to address this problem holistically and see kids as more than future workers. Former university administrator Dan Porterfield, now the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, moderates the conversation.
Explore
Related episodes
Leaders are the face of their institution, answering for all its missteps and sometimes taking the fall for the actions of others. How can anyone manage that job in today’s divisive world, and why would anyone want to? Three successful leaders come together in this episode for a frank conversation full of wisdom on the recipe for great leadership and recruiting and shepher...
America’s “second founding” came on the heels of the Civil War, when the architects of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments thought long and hard about how to enshrine civil rights that were truly for all into the U.S. Constitution. Despite an immediate backlash, including from the Supreme Court, and repercussions we’re still dealing with today, that second generation of fra...
Hope seems like a simple concept, but the feeling can be difficult to hold onto. And when times are difficult and chaos swirls around us, it’s more important than ever. How do we find and practice hope when it’s elusive? Spiritual and religious leaders rely on centuries of experience and wisdom to continually guide people back to hope, and this episode’s discussion from th...
The challenges for university presidents keep coming, from Middle East protests to standardized testing and admissions debates, to complaints over classroom content and pedagogical methods. The American public has little faith in college administrators right now, according to polling, and it’s often unclear how institutions can move forward and assuage the critics. Not to...
Conflict and suffering can bring out the worst in people, but it can also bring out the best. This is one of the lessons New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has learned from decades of reporting on the ground in war zones and amidst humanitarian nightmares. Somehow, despite witnessing atrocities like the Tiananmen Square protests, genocide in Darfur and war in Iraq,...