@danfer91 yep, that was pretty much what the class was about. Huge scary guys chased us and threw us on the ground for several hours, and we learned how to fight back and avoid the situation. One of the things I liked about that class was that they really emphasized avoiding the situation in the first place.
I dragged the girls to it and for the first few minutes they were all “this is stupid”. By the end of the classes they were like wow, I had no idea. They have more respect for how much stronger most guys are than they are (I wish I could get them to do Crossfit to even that up a little, but they won’t), and how bad situations look so innocuous in the beginning (like elevators and parking lots).
My objective was to hit the guys so hard that they still winced even though they were wearing cups. I overheard one guy say “watch out for that one, she’s vicious”. b-(
I don’t think the risks are any greater than when I went to school, but I do think that some kids may be less prepared to handle them. Kids of helicopter parents don’t have as many adult life skills as kids from previous generations.
When calculating the relative dangers, it’s worth noting that Dahmer committed his first murder between high school and college. Some kid was Dahmer’s roommate.
Diagnoses are more readily available today than 30 - 40 years ago, and that’s almost certainly a good thing.
Another thing to keep in mind is that back in 1963, if a student had manifested mental illness…or was even suspected of such for erroneous well-meaning reasons or more dubious ones, he/she would not only have been effectively barred from considering applying to college by HS educators/admins, and parents…but also likely to be placed in a mental institution which effectively acted to imprison and warehouse the mentally ill and those suspected of such by ignorant or devious relatives/adults with ulterior motives.
Abuses of past policies which made it too easy to involuntarily commit people one either didn’t like for being merely eccentric, obnoxious, or because a relative/neighbor had ulterior motives such as gaining their inheritance money/property outright were critical reasons why it’s currently much harder to involuntary commit someone than it was in the early '60s and before.
An older friend who is now been a working professional for decades was nearly committed as a young child in the early '60s by a schoolteacher because he was considered “too odd” by her standards.
In short, many students who have mental health issues…or even those without mental health issues but are eccentric or staunchly march to the beat of their own drum who earned admission and attend colleges…including some highly selective ones would not only not have had that higher-ed opportunity back in the early '60s…but also likely be involuntarily committed…whether it was legitimate or not.
This is why there are so many car accidents in the winter in areas that get a little snow but not a lot (by which I mean the Washington, DC area, where I live, and areas farther south). Drivers whose cars are skidding on ice do the wrong things because they only know the theory; they haven’t had opportunities to practice the skills over and over.
The same principle applies to many, many other situations.