The Certainty of Uncertainty

This item by Rebecca Jennings in Vox got us thinking again about the role anxiety plays in domestic and international private education. Edwin Friedman described churches and schools as "anxious systems," full of people with unslakable existential anxiety from a fundamentally uncertain future. We see parental anxiety about their children's unknowable futures at every school we visit. Much agita about exams, grades, university admission, and attending the "best" school is driven by displaced anxiety about what lies ahead for one's children.Jennings' article highlights the rise of anxiety, at least in the USA, as both an ambient and clinical condition. Back when in the 70's and 80's, depression was the common cold of mental health; today it is anxiety. A quick Google Trend (2004 to present Google search terms) query for "anxiety" shows that searches for "anxiety" were flat from 2004 until roughly 2010 and have risen steadily ever since. Just more angst to displace! Simply searching for "living with uncertainty" turned up almost 90 million sites this afternoon.School leaders need to do better at helping anxious people cope with uncertainty. One approach would be this from the for-profit Fairmont Private Schools in Southern California, promising top-100 university admission. Don't like the idea? There's much we don't like either, starting with the notion that elite university acceptance is what high school tuition buys. Then best for us all to become adept at helping others live with anxiety, because just saying "results may vary" only makes them more anxious.