The counseling comes free with the college tuition, so people want to get their money’s worth. If you go to a buffet you’re going to eat as much of the most expensive stuff as you can right? Because you want to get your money’s worth.
That’s why I don’t do buffets. Too much effort spent by restaurants distracting customers w cheap filler crap and not enough effort spent on stuff that really matters.
It’s easy for colleges to hire counselors. Much harder to execute a kick-butt academic program.
Where is there “unlimited counseling for mental health issues” at a college? Really? So students with mental health issues have no need for their own psychiatrists / psychologists / therapists? I don’t believe it. The mental health counseling at colleges is a bridge / support, but students need their own resources in the community.
The people who deal with these issues everyday are clear that there is a growing problem.
http://www.nndc.org/perspectives-on-college-student-suicide/
The article above is a good summary of resources in print, online, in 2015 on this issue. It does point out that although the suicide rate for college students is lower than that of the general population, the rate has been increasing since the 1950s. Of course, a far higher proportion of the population attends college today.
The article also touches on the influence of perfectionism, parental pressure, and social media:
I recommend reading the entire article. It’s a complex topic.
I would add that social media can increase isolation. Back in the 80s, college events were publicized by posters and flyers on campus. When I visit campuses today, it’s obvious that many notices are distributed by email, facebook or groupme, or websites. They aren’t fluttering in your face from a nearby wall.
Hmmm. Half of the students reported their emotional health as being in the top half.
This suggests that students may be representative of the larger population – something that perhaps wasn’t true in the past when students with emotional problems may not have gone to college.
It’s interesting that it has captured the attention of college administrators in such a big way.
Maybe they are all simply deluded.
83 & #85: Like I said, the issue isn't that there's more fragility among teens and 20-somethings, it's that a greater proportion of them are able to go to college, and a greater proportion of those are persisting longer in college.
This does not mean that there’s declining student resilience, but rather that the sample of students visible to college administrators has changed—big difference.
@dfbdfb So, you’re saying colleges are delving into pools of students with characteristics significantly different from what they are used to and consequently, seeing a higher concentration of the unresilient matriculants?
@JustOneDad #87: From my observation and reading of the literature, yes, that’s the conclusion I draw.
That’s why I say you can’t blame things like parenting or social networking or whatever—resilience has remained the same, it’s just what’s visible.
This article in The Atlantic made me think of this thread. Japan runs totally counter to what we have in the US-- where parents get arrested for letting their kids play in front of their own homes.
**Why Japanese Kids Can Walk to School Alone
Even in big cities like Tokyo, small children take the subway and run errands by themselves. **
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/why-japanese-kids-can-walk-to-school-alone/408475/
Not only are do American kids need to be protected from walking to school on their own, but American college students now need to be protected from “harmful” speech and ideas. Are we just doomed?
Our whole society has become softer and less tolerant of stress and suffering, not just college kids.
Quite frankly, I am glad that my husband and I have been able to provide our daughter a comfortable life with ample support, both materially and emotionally. We were blessed with a child who has learned not to take what she has for granted. And I have tried not to use it too often, but have nothing against pulling out the parental artillery when necessary, though I prefer the F22 to laze my target over the helicopter.
I agree that the population trying to go to college is more diverse today, and that includes with physical and mental challenges that would have been shut out not many generations ago. So as a whole group they appear less resilient. Does that put strains on the systems, yes, but it also offers a chance for some to break free. I think that’s a good thing.
I loved seeing the young kids on their own on the subway in the morning in Tokyo. That is possible in a country that has low crime and a high conviction rate.
A generation ago, parents in the US were much more willing to let kids go to school on their own, even though crime rates were higher then. But fear of crime seems to be greater today, even though the risk of crime is lower.
So true @ucbalumnus
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This is regionally differentiated, though—in my observation in Anchorage, Alaska, for example, despite having a pretty high crime rate here, kids tend to have longer leashes than many other urban areas of the country.
Interesting, dfbdfb.
We live in a safe overseas area, within close proximity to our other American acquaintances and about 2 kilometers from the high school where my daughter attended. She walked to and from school regularly and you would think we were beating her up from the comments our colleagues made when they saw her walking! It has become a mindset in the US it seems, that kids aren’t safe outside.
@JustOneDad "It’s interesting that it has captured the attention of college administrators in such a big way.
Maybe they are all simply deluded."
OP: “A year ago I received an invitation from the head of Counseling Services to join other faculty and administrators, at the university I’m associated with, for discussions about how to deal with the decline in resilience among students. At the first meeting, we learned that emergency calls to Counseling had more than doubled over the past five years.”
I have to agree with @dfbdfb. I don’t see a causal link to lower resilience. I think that mental health has been significantly destigmatized compared to the past and students are generally more willing to seek help.
Students have to deal with the rising difficultly of getting admitted, EC expectations, gpa, rigor, test score numbers are higher every year. $250k for 4 years of school, 50% under or unemployment when you are done, and students increasingly selecting more more demanding/stressful majors and you have a lot more going on that just a narrative of wimpy students who can’t deal with the trauma of having complete 1 hour of weekend homework.
Honestly my experience is that kids today are doing more and more at earlier ages than in the past.
@NorthernMom61 , On the flip side of that high conviction rate is also the criticism that it is too high–that everyone who is charged is basically de facto guilty and don’t really get a fair trial or a presumption of innocence. The game series, Ace Attorney, is actually Japanese legal satire meant to criticize this aspect of the Japanese judicial system