Episode 142 The bright side of adolescence, with Chris Balme

On this episode I talk to Chris Balme, the author of the book Finding the Magic in Middle School (2022) and the founder of the Millennium School, an alternative middle school in San Francisco.

We talk about what makes people enter the strange and confusing world of alternative education, and what sort of lessons Chris has learned from working with adolescents in an alternative education setting. How come we at the same time have both too low and too high expectations of adolescents, and how do we talk to parents and kids about these expectations? We cover a wide range of topics, from overworked teachers in alternative and progressive education; good books about parenting and learning (Tom Hodgkinson, Alison Gopnik, Judith Rich Harris, Blake Boles); the three stages of adolescence that Chris describe in his book: belonging, achievement and authenticity; friendship; age-mixing; learning about emotions, Lisa Feldman Barrett's book How Emotions Are Made; how social media and smartphones are not all bad for teenagers, and Peter Gray's writings on this topic; how we can create more space in kids' lives for play and independence; the role of school today and how children and adolescents need a lot of time to socialize, and how they spend less time socializing in-person outside of school; the positive aspects of being the parent of an adolescent, and several other topics.

Read more of Chris Balme's writings on his Substack Growing Wiser: https://chrisbalme.substack.com/ and https://www.chrisbalme.com/

Books mentioned:

Blake Boles, Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School

Alison Gopnik, The Carpenter and the Gardener

Tom Hodgkinson, The Idle Parent

Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids

Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made

Larry Steinberg, Age of Opportunity

Jonathan Mooney, Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive, Outside the Lines

Peter Gray on social media: https://petergray.substack.com/p/benefits-and-challenges-of-social

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