only joy returns.

Growing up, I felt that our country’s political and business leaders regarded young people as a valuable resource to be cultivated. I felt that our abilities mattered, and that we had a responsibility to use them for the benefit of society as a whole, whether we were inclined to science or the arts or any other worthy pursuit. Now we tell young people that they’re a drain on the budget, unworthy of tax dollars, and after grudgingly warehousing them in public schools, we’ll dump them in the jungle and rail about their lack of moral character and family values if they can’t survive the dog-eat-dog world we refuse to make better.

—NY Times, Anonymous