Virginia Tech
Apr. 17th, 2007 08:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterIncidents like the shootings at Virginia Tech make me wonder about the media's role in informing the public about such sudden, tragic events. Part of me wants to wait and see what the Christian Science Monitor has to say about what happened before I make any commentary on the event.
But another part of me feels compelled to respond more immediately because I worry that the social factors leading to such shooting incidents are present in my surroundings as well. After all, I am a student at a gigantic research university, and the university campus is a highly populated public space with limited social support services for struggling students. Perhaps that's part of why I feel it's so important for me to reach out to the students I teach and play a meaningful role in their education and lives. These students spend much of their time being incredibly anonymous, relying on each other for guidance and support, but for many of them it's clear they could use a little more help. It's also the first time that many of them are living on their own, away from their families, which can cause additional stress on top of the pressures of the fast pace of academics. ASU also admits many students who are definitely not prepared to be in college, and thus sets many students up for immediate failure.
Obviously there's no sense in being paranoid; life will happen one way or another, and there will always be situations that cannot be forseen or prevented. I just hope that for all the students who feel alienated from academics and resentful of those who succeed (and who take permanent measures to resolve temporary problems), there are many more who find the academic experience deeply enriching and rewarding.
Our university president sent an e-mail out to the university late last night in response to the VTech tragedy; but I still have to wonder how much time and energy he devotes to thinking about the University's social support system (or lack thereof). Tufts was absolutely exemplary in that respect in the time while I was there, something which I have only recognized since leaving and seeing how things could have been.
But another part of me feels compelled to respond more immediately because I worry that the social factors leading to such shooting incidents are present in my surroundings as well. After all, I am a student at a gigantic research university, and the university campus is a highly populated public space with limited social support services for struggling students. Perhaps that's part of why I feel it's so important for me to reach out to the students I teach and play a meaningful role in their education and lives. These students spend much of their time being incredibly anonymous, relying on each other for guidance and support, but for many of them it's clear they could use a little more help. It's also the first time that many of them are living on their own, away from their families, which can cause additional stress on top of the pressures of the fast pace of academics. ASU also admits many students who are definitely not prepared to be in college, and thus sets many students up for immediate failure.
Obviously there's no sense in being paranoid; life will happen one way or another, and there will always be situations that cannot be forseen or prevented. I just hope that for all the students who feel alienated from academics and resentful of those who succeed (and who take permanent measures to resolve temporary problems), there are many more who find the academic experience deeply enriching and rewarding.
Our university president sent an e-mail out to the university late last night in response to the VTech tragedy; but I still have to wonder how much time and energy he devotes to thinking about the University's social support system (or lack thereof). Tufts was absolutely exemplary in that respect in the time while I was there, something which I have only recognized since leaving and seeing how things could have been.
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Date: 2007-04-17 09:49 pm (UTC)It saddens me to hear your school has such limited social support services. At U of T, and I had assumed this to be the case at other schools, there's readily available counselling services, for the precise reasons you mention. They helped me through some difficult times, and as a result, I recommend them to online friends who are in college now and struggling through similarly tough times.
You would not believe how much resistance I get from them! Everyone seems to have a serious mental block they throw up whenever they hear the word "counselling". Oh em gee, a head shrinker! If I go see one, that means I'm crazy! They'd think nothing about going to see a doctor about a broken leg, but if it's all in the head then they can manage on their own, even if they really can't.
I have a suspicion that, until we find some way to remove the stigma of getting help, we'll have students who grow resentful of themselves for performing poorly, of their classmates for performing better, and worse thoughts from there. So I think it's really admirable that you're offering yourself as a sort of refuge for your students that doesn't bring with it the I-must-be-crazy baggage of going to see a counsellor.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-21 02:45 am (UTC)