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[quote=Anonymous]I teach at a community college. I love the honesty students have been presenting in class lately. They show up as their authentic selves which makes it easier for me to connect with them from day one. They aren't afraid to be specific about their lives outside of class, which can help me mentor them in making solid decisions based on their life's circumstances.

We are having many students with more diagnosed mental health issues, which I assume is a combination of more students having them and the students who were diagnosed in high school deciding to stay home to continue therapy.

The younger students are more scared than ever before. It's always been difficult for freshman to take risks, but it's extremely hard for me to convince them to try something new--even on ungraded draft papers. And so, they freeze and don't turn anything in, or they utilize AI beyond just getting started and end up with a plagerism charge.

Generative AI is the hot button topic among the administration and my colleagues: how to utilize it ourselves, what to teach students about it for their job fields, how to ensure they aren't using it for writing and coding assignments that should be done by hand. I imagine nearly every student will utilize AI in their courses as an assigned task in the next few years.

I totally agree with previous poster about office hours. We even do ours virtually where students can "drop in" on Zoom. Any student who comes usually ends up with at least one letter grade higher than when they started the class.

There is a lot of pressure at the CC to declare a major since the applied degrees have a very structured track with prerequisites, and the transfer degrees are broad but certain universities want specific courses. This is why going to orientations, finding a specific advisor to help, joining clubs to meet other students, etc. is important. The more information they can get, the better it is.

FAFSA stuff really is a mess. This is going to impact our students (many who receive full Pell grants) if it still can't be figured out before August 1 when tutition is due.

As a parent, I know that it is hard, but please step back and let your child fail. Failing in college does not mean failing at life. And college faculty and administration do not bend to parents at all in the way I've seen K-12 do. Fill out the request for FERPA release before you want the grades, attendance, etc. It will be an easier conversation to have with your child before they are in trouble than during or after.

I have rising 9th and 6th graders. I usually just sit back on these conversations. The desire for so many posters to have students go to top tier schools is crazy to me. Perhaps its because we don't have a lot saved for college to afford full tuition, but I will be pushing my children to look at schools where they can receive merit-based aid. The new federal regulations around debit to income ratio should help really illuminate if liberal arts majors are all working in low-paying jobs. [/quote]

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