On this board, it seems as though a large minority, or perhaps a majority, of prospective and current students have health, family/relationship or other issues that require them to have bad grades.
For example, so many are diagnosed with ADD or have issues with a parent, grandparent or other friend or relative during a school year. These issues require the student to get bad grades.
Is this how most students are these days: suffering from chronic health or relationship issues that cause bad grades? I went through college around 25 years ago and never had any of those issues, and my friends didn’t, either. The cause of bad grades back then was often laziness, excessive partying or a lack of fit with the school.
It seems as though we as a society need to be doing more to help students afflicted by problems that didn’t exist as much, from what I can tell, 25 years ago. Perhaps added mental health counselors in schools would help, or flexible schedules that allow students to take time off when these issues occur?
I think because we have a predilection these days to “name” and accept conditions that a few decades ago may have caused parents and students from investing in and pursuing college. Not necessarily a bad thing but I am not so quick to accept that it is the colleges responsibility to support some of it mostly because I think the administrative bloat is a huge cause of increased college costs. There are hundreds if not thousands of places students can get reduced schedules and time off from college.
There were students many generations ago who had the same problems and the same resulting bad grades. However, they are likely to have just been thought of as bad students. I did know a few. Now of course as @momofthreeboys says we have a much better ability to diagnose what is going on and apply a name to it. In many cases we can even help things to get better (whether with drugs, or counseling, or time off, or a combination).
Another issue is that our students today are under a lot of pressure, and almost certainly a lot more pressure than there was when I was in high school. I think that this does cause additional stress related problems.
I’m not sure I totally agree that students are under more pressure. I would love to know if it is simply more kids are identified as having mental health issues. I think it is the following two reasons: 1) Access to college and unis has increased so more students who would not have gone in the past are going now. 2) Because of better treatment and drug therapy kids who would not have gone to college previously because of their mental illnesses are going these days The big “but” is that K-12 education is now structured so that the vast majority of kids who need supports have access to them allowing them to graduate high school which is directly tied to the mission of K-12 public education for all. I’m not convinced it should extend to colleges although there are studies that show the investment in counseling centers on college increases retention which is tied to revenue. But where does that leave kid post-graduation? To me that would be what tipped the scales and I doubt there are any studies. I would like to think that "help and supports in college leads to better life outcomes but again I don’t know if there are studies.
The graduation rate percentages have not changed all that significantly over the decades. The most recent study I found says about 59% who start complete in 6 years as of the graduating class of 2015 but that number was 55% in 1996 so has not gone up in leaps and bounds despite the increases in supports by colleges and unis.
First of all, not all students with health issues get bad grades. Many are able to overcome all kinds of obstacles and have the resilience to succeed. Accommodations help as well. I know young people who have significant chronic illnesses who graduated from Ivies and are thriving in life.
The Americans with Disabilites Act was passed in 1990 and that has made a big difference. If students get a diagnosis with documentation they are entitled to accommodations that “level the playing field.” That can mean single room, exams in a separate room, excused absences for appointments, notetakers, extensions on papers or extra time on tests, reduced courseload etc. These are intended to allow students to perform at the academic level they should be- at their level of competence/intelligence- without the obstacle of the medical or mental health issue.
I do think the pressure to go to college has gotten out of hand and that alternative paths should be emphasized for some young people, including trades that are quite high paying. Some of those who write appeal letters citing family issues or health issues may or may not be able to perform in college when life is easier.
OP- I dislike the use of the word “require”. The posters on CC are looking for help with problems. The vast majority of parents are NOT utilizing this website. The problems have existed for a long time. The diagnosis and treatments have not. Knowing WHY a child does not learn well is a huge step in figuring out what to do to allow them to succeed.
Most of the time the same issues from your 25 years ago and my eons ago college experiences were the common ones you report. CC gets the outliers, those with rarer problems.
btw- most posts involve students who do very well and parents want to maximize their child’s options.
I think “require” is simply an incorrect word choice by the OP. No one is compelling anyone to have bad grades. We actually see a lot of students out here with low grades and no good excuse except that they screwed around. There CAN be other reasons — health issues for the student or a family member, unidentified learning disability, etc. And the student can decide whether to try to explain (themselves or their GCs) to colleges. But it rarely makes much difference in admissions, so students are usually advised to apply to schools that match their actual stats, because that is where they will probably end up.
I think you are venting about some perceived benifit in admissions that rarely occurs. Grievance posting.
@intparent no, I’m not venting about admissions. I am just seeing numerous students and prospective students with bad grades attributable to a health or relationship issue: e.g., “my grandmother was ill so I got a D in algebra II; I can still gets into School XYZ, right?”
I simply either didn’t know people with such issues 25 years ago or was unaware of such issues then, and I’m seeking to understand how and why these issues occur so that they can be addressed.
While there remains a lot of stigma regarding mental illness and family concerns, it was much worse 25 years ago. These were things people didn’t talk about so readily. Some people, though not all, are more willing to say they suffer with mental health concerns or relationship concerns today. And as someone upthread pointed out, eligibility for accommodation comes with being open and diagnosed. When a student is legitimately sick or traumatized by relationship issues, it has a negative impact on functioning, and can impact grades. Remember, posters here seem to be a small subset of the population of students and the status of people who post may not be representative of the population as a whole.
I do not believe anything is different than let’s say 25 years ago. In terms of ADHD I seriously doubt anymore people suffer from it than years ago as it runs in families. The difference is it is treated today unlike years ago. Being a B or C student many years ago many good colleges were available as gpa’s were not as high and the competition wasn’t as stiff for college admissions. As a dyslexic myself, back in my era there were zero accomodations. Sadly many of these kids were thrown into remedial classes and did not go to college unless you had strong parent advocates paying for specialized private tutoring. What has changed is smart kids who have adhd, dyslexia or what not have more protections and resources available today but they have always existed. Neither I, my child with ADHD, or my other with a chronic medical condition ever had “bad” grades so to speak just not as great as they otherwise could be.
So you are going to keep everyone’s grandparents healthy, everyone’s physical and mental health good, stop any abuse or bullying that might be having an impact, make sure their families have a place to live and the adults earn a living wage so the kids aren’t working to support the family and going to HS at the same time?
I’d understand this post if YOUR kid had issues. But that doesn’t seem to be your concern. And I’m going to guess you’ve been unaware. Lots of kids drop out for these reasons or don’t go on to college, and have for years. As a college education becomes more critical for economic success, more of those kids are trying to figure out how to fight through those issues.
@HappyAlumnus - am I misremembering or didn’t you report many moons ago on cc that you started out at a smaller college in your local area with family connections (Davidson) , worked hard once you were in college, and ultimately transferred to your NE school?
I think the very issue is that we now assume kids with average grades are lazy. We act like it’s normal for a school to have 30 valedictorians. We act like a “B” is a bad grade and places like CC compound that perception. It puts everyone in the defensive to “explain” why our kid has an UW 3.7 instead of a 4.0. We talk like it’s only the 4.0’s that worked hard or did valuable things with their high school years. That kids that had a bad year were just weak.
Our parents were never put in the position of talking about our gpas and test scores. They didn’t have to defend us or explain what circumstances led to average or even bad grades. I’m sure we would have heard more “reasons” if they had.
The internet makes the rare seem common because those who seek connection are usually feeling isolated in one way of another. Parents whose kids are struggling with real issues are more likely to post that one who knows their kid is being lazy and gaming instead of homework.
Both our school’s parent brag sheet and the “about me” page my daughter has to fill out have sections asking if there are any issues that would “explain” bad grades. This kind of thing leads to the assumption that bad grades can and should be explained.
Beyond that, I think that here a CC we have an skewed view of what is normal and what is expected. Kids don’t need 4.0 to get into most state colleges. B students can and do get into fine schools and do quite well.
Here on CC people come and talk about their problems to get advice.
The people with no issues don’t come here.
I can certainly remember the guy with dyslexia that dropped out after freshman year, the guy who crashed a motorcyle freshman year and dropped out, the guy in my dorm that was a super senior, the gal that got pregnant and dropped out…
I think one big difference today is that students think that if they have a good excuse for something they get a pass.
Back when I was in graduate school, in the stone age, my dad died one week into classes my second year. I missed three days of classes as I went home for the funeral, and then when I got back I was in rough shape. I coudn’t concentrate to read and I couldn’t sleep and began relying on sleeping pills. It was a very rough semester and my grades took a big hit. It never occurred to me to go to my professors and try to ask for better grades or special treatment because of the situation. However, it seems that many of today’s students would. Its just a different mindset.
@bopper - those things happen to many students. People without “issues” certainly DO come to cc, but its more likely that not everyone chooses to share their “issues”. What is more likely is that currently there are a mix of lazy, partier, academically “immature” (meaning they don’t care about academics yet) and average students, AS WELL as those with mood/attention/learning issues that may not have been recognized in “our day” and were seen as unmotivated or not hard workers. The push to attend college has increased since “our day”, and may not be the right place for many HSers. Have been reading about the shortage of truckdrivers, so the pay is very good to entice potential job applicants.