High School Happiness and Wellbeing
The high school years, positioned as they are at the flashpoint of adolescent development, can be among the best and worst of times. Students begin high school as mere children and graduate as young adults ready (we hope) to take their next big steps into college, careers, and life. Consequently, we as a society should focus on providing the most positive, productive, and equitably enjoyable high school experiences possible for our teens. But do we? Challenge Success, the Stanford Graduate School of Education nonprofit that focuses on school communities, just released their Challenge Success Student Voice Report. This rich review of quantitative and qualitative data from 2010-2023 explores high school students’ emotional and physical health, sense of connection and belonging in school, and engagement with learning. The study analyzed data from more than 270,000 high school students over the course of 14 years. The results in three specific areas aren’t…
More Benefits to Reading for Pleasure Early in Life
Why do we keep returning to the message that reading is an incredibly important skill for absolutely everyone? With benefits this concrete and important, why wouldn’t we? Reading is linked to tons of desired outcomes: Increased reading speed and comprehension Enhanced verbal intelligence Greater command of language and vocabulary Higher levels of happiness, calm, and connection to your community Higher average annual incomes Not sold yet? Wait, there’s more! A 2023 study out of University of Cambridge found that Reading for pleasure early in childhood linked to better cognitive performance and mental wellbeing in adolescence: “Children who begin reading for pleasure early in life tend to perform better at cognitive tests and have better mental health when they enter adolescence, a study of more than 10,000 young adolescents in the US has found… The team found a strong link between reading for pleasure at an early age and a positive…
Happiness = Higher Scores
Thomas Edison might have been estimating when he calculated that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, but he had a point. Most of our success stems from the hard work we put in ahead of time. That last percentage point is tricky, though. How much of an impact can inspiration really make on results? Would you believe 12%? Happiness and productivity share a really splendid relationship: more of the former leads to an increase in the latter. Happiness, in