I've noticed over the past decade that my daughter's teenage friends wear their supposed pathologies like merit badges as markers of their uniqueness. Their "merit badges" do not denote merit, but instead represent qualities that are not earned. I see a culture that is obsessed with pathologizing every human trait, backed by the industrial pharmaceutical establishment, at the ready with pills in hand. — Questioner, Massachusetts As a teacher who works with young adults navigating the transition from university to employment, I push my students to think hard about the differences between their personal and professional identities, knowing that the latter offers a lot of white space for design and conscious construction. In prompting students to describe, "Who are you becoming?" I encourage them to think about their skills, values, priorities and ambitions. In this process, many students struggle to move beyond the framework of gender, racial, ethnic, religious, L.G.B.T.Q. identity (and, yes, mental health status) to think more broadly about how they wish to be perceived in their adult, professional lives. I find helpful the author's notion that identity may be a project to discover truths about oneself that are not accidents of birth. I'll try this out on my students, hopeful that it might provide a path for discovery and growth. — S., New York |
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