Teachers Should Be More Concerned For Students' Mental Health Than Their Pass Rates

Teachers Should Be More Concerned For Students' Mental Health Than Their Pass Rates

This conversation should've been had a long time ago.

Simone Umba
Simone Umba Nov 1, 2018
37
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I'm a senior in college and have had a variety of teachers in my years in school. There are the ones who want to teach more than their curriculum to their students and others who just do the standard protocol and make the minimum past rate for the year. But something that I've been pondering on for a while now.

"Do teachers/professors care about the mental health of their students?"


I (Almost) Dropped Out of College www.youtube.com


With midterms going on for the entire fall season, students have pushed themselves to their breaking point. They've skipped meals, lost hours of sleep, and even skipped classes or cut back on work to have more hours to study since there aren't more than 24 hours in a day. I've had weeks where I had three exams in one week, on some occasions back to back as if it was finals week. Millennials are looked at as "The Lazy Generation" but that is untrue. We are "The Hustle Generation" because nothing is easy for us and we know that. We're full-time students, work part-time and even full-time jobs, outside clubs, internships, some of us having our own families. College isn't about just partying and getting out in four years time. But the reality is that it isn't that at all.


The Kids Are Not All Right: College Mental Health Needs an Intervention www.youtube.com


College campuses have started offering student counseling in recent years due to the high rising number in mental health statistics in college students in the mental health sector. Recent Statistics show that one out of every four students is diagnosed with a mental illness. The top five issues found in college students include Depression, Anxiety, Addiction, Eating Disorders, and Suicide. But it feels as though teachers and professors have been ignoring these facts for years. We constantly ask them why do they torture us like this or didn't they go through the same struggle in college so why would you do the same to your own students.

We come home on weekends and holiday breaks and we're are strangers to the people around us. Our friends see how we've lost interested in being outside and doing activities. Our parents see that the energy and faith in yourself are gone and that depression has taken over their bodies and minds. They underestimated what college would do to you after one semester, one year, or three years. You're haven't been physically injured but have been mentally and emotionally beaten by your surroundings.


College Student Opens Up About Depression And Anxiety www.youtube.com

In a poll survey, 84% of college students feel as though their professors don't care about students mental stability and ability to go about completing assignments. 46% have experienced anxiety on more than one occasion and 67% are currently going through depression and only 34% is being treated for it. I asked several students this question and got a variety of answers.

"Their jobs are to educate. They don't care about our well being at all."

"I've had professors give us three hours worth of homework over thanksgiving break, the one week in the semester that is my actual vacation from school."

"Mental health is just as important as physical health."

"I had two exams back to back in the same week, one on Thursday and one on Friday. I asked one of my professors if I could take the exam a day early so I could have time to study for both and he said it's not his job to accommodate for "my schedule". I wasn't asking for a free pass. I just asked if I could take a test early rather than take a test that I know i won't be fully focused or prepared for."

"If a student isn't okay mentally they can't learn."

"They keep asking why our class average is getting lower with every exam, but at the same time they don't realize they're making the material hard enough so we don't pass at all."

"Teachers need to keep in check what is going on with them in class as well as at home."

"I feel like professors don't understand what we go through mentally and it's something we can't just push to the side."

"They think their class should be our number one priority like we don't have 15 hours of other classes to worry about."

"The only reason for a professor to cancel class is when there's a state of emergency and they still don't want to cancel class when the school says so."

"Suicide is occurring at a younger age."

"I asked my professor if I could take an exam the following week because my dad had passed away over the weekend and she didn't believe me. I told her I wasn't in the mental capacity to be in school and all she could say was that it isn't her priority to give a student special treatment. When I told my mom, she came straight down to the school to come to get me and told my teacher off for not believing me. The woman just lost her husband so she didn't want her daughter to go through an even more tougher time."


So where do we go from here? We need to have an open dialogue and conversation with both sides and come to an understanding where both parties can understand where the other is coming from. Because if we don't come to an understanding, neither of these groups are going to win int he ends and it will just be a mess for everyone and this cycle will continue to the point where the college will be seen as a place that will mentally disable you.

Remember that Mental Health Is Just As Important As Physical Health.

If you or anyone you know is currently struggling with mental illness, don't be afraid of seeking help or treatment.

Simone Umba
Simone Umba Nov 1, 2018
At University of West Georgia

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To The Person Who Feels Suicidal But Doesn't Want To Die

Suicidal thoughts are not black and white.
Mia McLaughlin
Mia McLaughlin Nov 12, 2017
1557023
views

Everyone assumes that if you have suicidal thoughts that means you want to die.

Suicidal thoughts are thought of in such black and white terms. Either you have suicidal thoughts and you want to die, or you don't have suicidal thoughts and you want to live. What most people don't understand is there are some stuck in the gray area of those two statements, I for one am one of them.

I've had suicidal thoughts since I was a kid.

My first recollection of it was when I came home after school one day and got in trouble; and while I was just sitting in the dining room I kept thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to take a knife from the kitchen and just shove it into my stomach." I didn't want to die, or even hurt myself for that matter. But those thoughts haven't stopped since.

I've thought about going into the bathroom and taking every single pill I could find and just drifting to sleep and never waking back up, I've thought about hurting myself to take the pain away, just a few days ago on my way to work I thought about driving my car straight into a tree. But I didn't. Why? Because even though that urge was so strong, I didn't want to die. I still don't, I don't want my life to end.

I don't think I've ever told anyone about these feelings. I don't want others to worry because the first thing anyone thinks when you tell them you have thoughts about hurting or killing yourself is that you're absolutely going to do it and they begin to panic. Yes, I have suicidal thoughts, but I don't want to die.

It's a confusing feeling, it's a scary feeling.

When the depression takes over you feel like you aren't in control. It's like you're drowning.

Every bad memory, every single thing that hurt you, every bad thing you've ever done comes back and grabs you by the ankle and drags you back under the water just as you're about the reach the surface. It's suffocating and not being able to do anything about it.

The hardest part is you never know when these thoughts are going to come. Some days you're just so happy and can't believe how good your life is, and the very next day you could be alone in a dark room unable to see because of the tears welling up in your eyes and thinking you'd be better off dead. You feel alone, you feel like a burden to everyone around you, you feel like the world would be better off without you. I wish it was something I could just turn off but I can't, no matter how hard I try.

These feelings come in waves.

It feels like you're swimming and the sun is shining and you're having a great time, until a wave comes and sucks you under into the darkness of the water. No matter how hard you try to reach the surface again a new wave comes and hits you back under again, and again, and again.

And then it just stops.

But you never know when the next wave is going to come. You never know when you're going to be sucked back under.

I always wondered if I was the only one like this.

It didn't make any sense to me, how did I think about suicide so often but not want to die? But I was thinking about it in black and white, I thought I wasn't allowed to have those feelings since I wasn't going to act on them. But then I read articles much like this one and I realized I'm not the only one. Suicidal thoughts aren't black and white, and my feelings are valid.

To everyone who feels this way, you aren't alone.

I thought I was for the longest time, I thought I was the only one who felt this way and I didn't understand how I could feel this way. But please, I implore you to talk to someone, anyone, about the way you're feeling; whether it be a family member, significant other, a friend, a therapist.

My biggest mistake all these years was never telling anyone how I feel in fear that they would either brush me off because “who could be suicidal but not want to die," or panic and try to commit me to a hospital or something. Writing this article has been the greatest feeling of relief I've felt in a long time, talking about it helps. I know it's scary to tell people how you're feeling, but you're not alone and you don't have to go through this alone.

Suicidal thoughts aren't black and white, your feelings are valid, and there are people here for you, you are not alone.

If you're thinking about hurting yourself please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit suicidepreventionhotline.org to live chat with someone. Help it out there and you are not alone.


Cover Image Credit: BengaliClicker
Mia McLaughlin
Mia McLaughlin Nov 12, 2017
At Michigan State University

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10 Things Economics Majors Want You To Know

For the MOST part, it isn't that bad.

Monica Zhang
Monica Zhang Jan 22, 2019
113
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I decided to become an economics major the day I started college — I know, it wasn't easy for me to decide. Well, technically the real reason why I even chose the major to begin with was that I was undecided when applying for colleges. I was, and still am, an indecisive person.

When I saw economics as one of the majors at Stony Brook, I thought it was something I was interested in. After all, it was the "study of markets and the behaviors of people in that same market." Besides psychology and philosophy (the two majors my parents didn't want me to study), I then chose econ. While it wasn't a piece of cake, it wasn't too challenging either. Here are a couple things we all want so desperately to say.

1. It's not all math, don't worry

While so many people tend to think that economics is all math and no fun, I beg to differ. As I mentioned above, it is the "study of the behavior of people in the market," so while it is equations and statistics, it is also observing how people treat prices and products.

2. It's not difficult to understand

I don't understand why parents think that if you're majoring in econ, you're pretty much signing up to fail all your courses. If they actually took the course, they would understand that it isn't the economic theory you need to understand, but how people react to changes in the stock market.

3. Majoring in econ isn't the same thing as majoring in business

When I tell people I'm an econ major, they immediately say, "Oh, business?" And then I squeeze the urge to yell in their face that I said "ECON, ECON, NOT BUSINESS." Then they continue to say they know someone that majors in business, and then ask if I know the person. The annoyances then continue. Econ is the study of markets. Business is the study of being an entrepreneur. Totally two different things. Yes, they are co-dependent, but they are not the SAME thing.

4. Please don't rely on me to do your taxes or calculate tips at a restaurant

I hate it when everyone just stares at me when the check comes. I regret telling people I'm an econ major at that point. Because I don't know how to tell them I don't learn how to do taxes or calculate tips in class, that's what finance majors do. AGAIN, not the same thing.

5. I know most of us are Asian, but don't be racist

Don't come up to me, ask me what my major is, and automatically assume that I'm an international student. It really sucks. I have to then correct them and say I'm not, and then have them walk away.

6. One of the prime motives is because we want to learn game theory

How we play games is vital to econ majors, and it does involve heavy readings of game theory books.

7. We mostly won't do econ during grad school

Because grad school is a time where we want to actually exercise our skills, it isn't a time to dawdle and major in the same things as we did in undergrad. We're actually adults by then, and we most likely will resort to marketing, sales, or advertising agencies. At least I want to work at Instagram HQ someday.

8. Our classes never have curves

Finals season is always tough on us because it just means we gotta put in three times as much work to memorize formulas, theories, and math terms. Have mercy on our souls. Most professors aren't even nice enough to bring up our grades or give us extra credit.

9. The TAs are too busy with work to help us

Even they understand econ isn't a breeze, and as TAs, they can't really explain stuff to us that they don't understand either. In fact, most of the stuff we learn in class are self-taught, usually late nights with Starbucks coffee.

10.  We actually hate business majors

Because they have it easy. And they don't need math. Everything they do is easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Not gonna lie, I love being an econ major. But some cons can be too much and it does teach me not to do econ in grad. One thing is for certain though, I love what I do and I don't regret choosing it.

Monica Zhang
Monica Zhang Jan 22, 2019
At The State University of New York at Stony Brook

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