Posted on 09/28/2015 1:14:35 PM PDT by rightistight
Writing on the increasing fragility of the American college student, Dr. Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College, detailed in Psychology Today about different cases where young adults showed an astounding inability to cope with minor hurdles in their lives. His article is titled "Declining Student Resilience: A Serious Problem for Colleges" and was published last week.
One incident that Dr. Gray describes is when two students saw a mouse in their off-campus apartment.
According to Dr. Gray, the students saw the mouse, panicked, and called the police. The police responded to the call, then set up a mouse trap for the startled students.
The students then sought counselling for what they had been through.
Dr. Gray explains that he has received emails from other college professors and Counselling Services which claim, "Less resilient and needy students have shaped the landscape for faculty in that they are expected to do more handholding, lower their academic standards, and not challenge students too much."
Other statements from faculty include, "Faculty, particularly young faculty members, feel pressured to accede to student wishes lest they get low teacher ratings from their students. Students email about trivial things and expect prompt replies."
As well as, "There is a sense of helplessness among the faculty. Many faculty members expressed their frustration with the current situation. There were few ideas about what we could do as an institution to address the issue."
Dr. Gray concludes, "If we want to prepare our kids for college—or for anything else in life!—we have to counter all these social forces. We have to give our children the freedom, which children have always enjoyed in the past, to get away from adults so they can practice being adults, that is, practice taking responsibility for themselves."
Too many helicopter parents doting on their one or two special snowflakes.
Now all of society is expected to cater to them as well.
If you’ve been in an elementary school classroom in the last 20 years, you may have noticed the desks pushed together in groups of 4. This is to encourage collaboration or something like that, but the real result is students never have to face a problem without the crutch of having other students to help them.
I recently was part of a master planning process for a college. Turns out, the contemporary college classroom is not a lecture hall, but rather a flat room with desks on wheels - so they can me moved around and pushed together, just like that elementary school classroom. Makes sense - those 1st graders are now in college, and expect to be put in small groups.
My apartment didn’t have rats but we did have plenty of cockroaches. Always had to be sure to cycle the toaster once before putting in any bread. Usually one or two dozen cockroaches would be seen scurrying away.
With a real education which included a heavy emphasis on, “I’m the baddest ass on the planet Americanism”
We had a mouse in the house about 30 years ago. My mother was up on the kitchen chair like the women in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
They should have just told the cops it was a small dog.
For you and me, sure, no problem.
But for some of the kids I met the last few years, that would be more than they could handle.
I know a few that might set the trap, but just cover it with a towel if it caught something. If it didn’t stink too bad, it would stay that way, I believe.
And with young people who admired and aspired to become adults.
Contrast to today, with young people believing absolutely that they are superior to adults in every way, and chronological “adults” who do NOT want to behave in any form of a grown up fashion.
Dear Lord, guide and strengthen us.
Tatt
We are soooo screwed.
“A bunch of young men with an eighth grade education but average to above average common sense mindful of their duties.”
8th grade education in 1940 > Masters in anything in humanities today
They did take it with them when they left. So I tended to believe them.
The question I would ask is whether civilization will be better or worse. I look around, at all the sleeve tatted hipsters with pitbulls, and wonder about ammo stocks. I'm not sure I have enough.
Personally, remind me again why we have to wait.
We had loads of roaches too. But that was a different story.
My wife recently started as a mental health counselor at a private university. On her first day she came home amazed at the types of “problems” the kids presented with. Zero coping skills. One night while on call (yes, they have on call counselors) she got a call from a kid who said he couldn’t sleep. She politely told the kid that not falling to sleep is certainly NOT an after-hours emergency, to try some warm milk and call his Mom.
She sees lots of: boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with me, drank too much at a party and slept with some guy who won’t call me back, don’t want to be majoring in “fill in blank” but I’m afraid to tell my parents, roommate issues. She also noted that nearly 100% of the kids she sees admit to smoking pot regularly.
I went to a military college, i don’t think they even had shrinks like this, and they’d damn sure laugh you out if you went for a mouse.
The dang 10 year old POS car won't start and I have test in fluid mechanics in an hour. Next months tuition bill has come and I don't have the money. I haven't eaten all day and its snowing.
By today's standards I should have jumped off a bridge.
I saw that story. They were absolutely right!
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