March 21, 2002

Here\’s a thought for Passover: We are Pharaohs to our children. We have made them our slaves. Their mud bricks are the books that fill 30-pound backpacks. Their mortar is four hours of homework every night. The straw we deny is sleep. Ask child therapists across the country about the headaches and self-starvation, and the girls who make shallow cuts in their wrists to \”let the pressure out, to feel on the outside the pain I feel on the inside.\” Ask the school counselors about how teenagers use drugs and sex to try to escape. Ask the pediatricians and chiropractors about what those 30-pound loads have done to the children\’s posture. Ask the college admissions office about their nicknames for incoming students: \”crispies,\” the 18-year-olds too fried from high school to function at college, and \”teacups,\” freshmen too fragile to manage on their own without their parents, tutors and housekeepers.