Edit: I should have mentioned I'm referring to Cupertino/Mountain View/Sunnyvale area. I don't really have anything to say about SF and Santa Cruz, they sound like nice places to live.
I think you need to check your privilege here. You grew up in a household with successful parents that wanted their children to succeed. If you didn't get into Berkeley, you'd have your parents be disappointed in you. The main economic driver in your area wasn't something you were interested in, so you'd likely have to move when you grew up.
I would go so far as to say that most people in the US (not even the rest of the world) have childhoods that better resemble a living hell. I suppose most tragedy is relative, and I'm not trying to delve into Candide-style one-upping. I'm just saying that maybe it's not Silicon Valley that sucks, maybe it's just growing up.
I'm not saying that the Silicon Valley is the worst place in the world. For some people it may be a great place to grow up. But there seems to be a disproportionate amount of people who think that the Valley is some sort of godsend place to raise kids, when it isn't at all.
It is a very real problem that is underlooked BY A LARGE MARGIN, which is why I felt the need to bring it up and possibly save some people. Life is not be about being successful and rich. And you are not a failure if you get bad grades.
Also, we have suicides too: http://abcnews.go.com/US/palo-alto-struggles-rash-teen-train...