Reply to Professor here -- curious to hear parents' perspective on this

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Even before Covid, I noticed an increase in serious mental health challenges among both undergrad and grad students in my classes and in the department as a whole. Based on conversations with colleagues, it seems to be occurring across the university. The university has some pretty good resources in place and the messaging from higher admin emphasizes supporting the students. But what I struggle with is maintaining standards. I have students who basically stop showing up to class, citing anxiety. They do not complete the work and do not do well on tests. In classes with papers instead of tests, they fail to turn the papers in. I have fairly generous makeup policies and let students drop their lowest test in the exam based courses. I try to use a variety of assessments so students' final grades do not depend on one or two very large assignments.

I reach out to the students who are not showing up and not turning in work and try to offer ways to help them get back on track. I also try to connect them to university mental health resources. But in many cases they either don't respond or want to try to make up work when it is way too late to turn things around. Even if I give them the opportunity to make up most of the work, it's just too much for them after getting so behind. Even giving a grade of Incomplete usually just delays the inevitable, as the challenges that were preventing the students from doing the work in the first place are often still in place a few months later. It just seems like a good proportion of these students would be better off withdrawing from courses rather than getting behind, feeling stressed about that, and still not ending up with a good grade in the end.

I personally think the biggest problem is that there is no good mechanism for students to recognize that college isn't working out at this time and to get their money back. The university doesn't allow a tuition refund unless the student drops quite early in the semester, before the student fully realizes they aren't keeping up. So the student feels like they have to stick with it because they have already paid for it, which I understand. It just feels like a problem with no real solution. I can't just pretend that my classes don't require any work for students experiencing mental health difficulties and give them a passing grade they haven't earned. I worry that the "it's ok not to be ok" messaging is leading some of them to believe it's ok to just stop communicating for weeks/months and that somehow it will all work out later. That is not reality in college nor is it the reality in the workplace.

Do you kids' universities have any effective solutions to this problem? I can't see my university changing their policy around tuition refunds but maybe some of us faculty need to start pushing for it somehow. [/quote]

As another professor, I have noticed a slight increase in students who seem to be struggling.

However, one of my main complaints prior to the pandemic has always been about how coddled the students are who come into my 101 level course.  By coddled I mean expecting to be able to make up exams they missed, turn in work late without any grade ramifications, and expecting extra credit at the end to boost their grades.

It's no wonder why nearly all students have 4.0 or higher GPAs exiting high school when [b]all their teachers allowed grades to be dropped, work to be turned in late without starting out a grade lower, and the reliance on extra credit "busy work."  [/b]

So many students say they have "anxiety" but when it is broken down and discussed, it boils down to them being overwhelmed and underprepared.    [/quote]

I've worked in several top private schools, and would like to note that it is admin who insist on this, not teachers.  If you want to survive at a top private school as a teacher, you can't have parents complaining about you regularly to admin, and they do complain if their children do not receives the high grades parents and students feel they deserve.  As a teacher, I have to do what admin want and what parents (so, kids) want.  It isn't teachers making these decisions.  And these decisions are ultimately harming our kids.  
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