Madeline Levine Speaks on
The Future of American
Education at the Athenaeum

On Jan. 26, the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum will host Madeline Levine, a psychologist and author. Levine will visit the Athenaeum as part of an ongoing series on issues confronting educators in America.
In her talk, Levine will examine the reasons behind the high rates of emotional problems among teens and young people, and the role that stress from academic achievement and family or peer pressure plays in this shift. Acknowledging that our society's reliance on metrics as sole markers of success is damaging to young people, Levine explores ideas about success and academics, and how educators can better respond to student's myriad developmental needs and skill levels. Levine's current book is The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Discontented and Unhappy Kids. Nationally known for her expertise on the subject of media violence and its effects on children and adolescents, she is the author of the critically acclaimed Viewing Violence and See No Evil: A Guide to Protecting Our Children from Media Violence. In her work Levine proves what researchers and media executives have known for years, that heavy viewing of media violence makes children more aggressive, more assertive, more pessimistic, less empathic, less creative and more stereotypical in their thinking.
Levine earned a B.A. in English and a M.A. in Education from New York University, Buffalo, then taught elementary and junior high school in the South Bronx of New York. She later earned a M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology.