I think you're closer to our root issues than most of the comments, but there are still links further down the causal chain from here. College admission is hyp

I think you're closer to our root issues than most of the comments, but there are still links further down the causal chain from here. College admission is hyper-important and hyper-competitive today because life is hyper-competitive. Stagnant wages and a steadily increasing cost of existing are destroying leisure and stability in all age groups, not just the teenagers. It honestly terrifies me. I'm extraordinarily lucky in almost every sense, so personally I'll likely be able to live a good life no matter what. But I feel like the systems that undergird every part of our society are getting more and more fragile. Huge groups of Americans are one small misfortune from ruin, and that's choking everything from entrepreneurial risk-taking to teenage partying and other pure leisure activities that used to shape our culture.