4 ms·

Do you not feel responsibility for the mental health or well being of your students? I’m trying to interpret your comment charitably, so I hope I’m not misinte

Do you not feel responsibility for the mental health or well being of your students? I’m trying to interpret your comment charitably, so I hope I’m not misinterpreting.

syki 5y ago
I teach at a college. I’m not in any way responsible for my students’ mental health or well being. That is far too much of a burden to have and I’m not paid nearly enough to take that on. Also, I have no training in mental health. The health care system is where one should go for mental health help.
- avs733 5y ago
  I think people may read this as blunt and dismissive. I think its worth considering the poster's core thesis: You don't want us doing this job. If I spend 2-4 hours a week with 120 students it is really a lot to ask faculty (who are not trained) or dorm RAs (who are minimally trained) to be responsible for the enormous mental health challenges facing this generation. It is not reasonable, safe, or even possible.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
avs733 5y ago
I do - it's about messaging and shifting of responsibility and about what I can be responsible for. Not so much misinterpreting as me being glib/short. The reality is complicated: - there are things I do that affect students' mental health - there are things my university does that affect students mental health - there are things that society does that affect my students mental health - there are things my students do that affect their mental health What I can influence is basically the first category - that is where my responsibility is. What I am being asked to deal with is accommodating ALL of the categories. I am pro-better mental health, I have my own mental health issues, and worry about our students mental health. I can (to an extent) accommodate the other categories - but it creates a load on me and really it just pushes the issue further along. However asking me to accommodate EVERYTHING is a negative feedback loop. We need to FIX these things not accommodate them. Instead, what we get told to do is 'accommodate' by 'being flexible'. Well guess what, that doesn't involve anyone taking responsibility, its just kicking the can down the road. Administration sends emails to faculty about flexibility but can't get our mental health services off of a six month wait list. Most faculty aren't trained to teach - even fewer are trained for this. Frankly, you don't want us to play mental health professional. I feel responsible for the way my classes interact with students' mental health. For my own mental health I wish I could not be responsible for the impact my (less generous) peers have on them. Where it starts to affect my mental health is that I feel responsible for my universities policies and the way students treat each other and the way society treats mental health. There are so many stressors that are so far beyond both my responsibility and control. I wish I could convince this country to maybe address mental health as an illness, work to meet people's basic needs, make college free or low cost - that would do far more for mental health than I can. At some point, my own mental health requires me to put some emotional distance between me and the students stressed about med school so I can focus on trying to link the students who are homeless to housing resources. Story for context: in fall of 2020, I had a student BEG me to bump their grade up to an incomplete because they had miscalculated their grade. I sent them five emails of increasing frankness telling them 'you earned an A and our school doesn't do +/-' including pointing out their miscalculation. They literally came to my office in tears. I told them, again, no seriously YOU GOT EARNED AN A. they filed a grade complaint. Charitability appreciated, I should have phrased more carefully. I'm one of the people who has been banging the drum on this for years and it's frustrating to see it now used as a justification for all sorts of stupid crap and larger asks of faculty that are not reasonable. When I see 'mental health' used as a reason to push people back to the classroom I fume - the mental health issues were there before and no one really cared, I don't believe you actually care now.
lapsedacademic 5y ago
There's a big and important difference between caring about something and feeling/being responsible for something. I care about an aircraft being flown safely. But for the love of God, don't put me in the cockpit and make me responsible for flying the plane safely. Ditto for mental health of undergrads when I'm lecturing. I'm there to teach them how to implement a red-black tree. Do I care about their mental health? Of course. Do I feel any responsibility for it? Hell no. Sometimes caring about something means NOT taking responsibility for that thing.

Do you not feel responsibility for the mental health or well being of your students? I’m trying to interpret your comment charitably, so I hope I’m not misinterpreting.

syki 5y ago

I teach at a college. I’m not in any way responsible for my students’ mental health or well being. That is far too much of a burden to have and I’m not paid nearly enough to take that on. Also, I have no training in mental health. The health care system is where one should go for mental health help.

avs733 5y ago
I think people may read this as blunt and dismissive. I think its worth considering the poster's core thesis: You don't want us doing this job. If I spend 2-4 hours a week with 120 students it is really a lot to ask faculty (who are not trained) or dorm RAs (who are minimally trained) to be responsible for the enormous mental health challenges facing this generation. It is not reasonable, safe, or even possible.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

avs733 5y ago

I do - it's about messaging and shifting of responsibility and about what I can be responsible for. Not so much misinterpreting as me being glib/short. The reality is complicated: - there are things I do that affect students' mental health - there are things my university does that affect students mental health - there are things that society does that affect my students mental health - there are things my students do that affect their mental health What I can influence is basically the first category - that is where my responsibility is. What I am being asked to deal with is accommodating ALL of the categories. I am pro-better mental health, I have my own mental health issues, and worry about our students mental health. I can (to an extent) accommodate the other categories - but it creates a load on me and really it just pushes the issue further along. However asking me to accommodate EVERYTHING is a negative feedback loop. We need to FIX these things not accommodate them. Instead, what we get told to do is 'accommodate' by 'being flexible'. Well guess what, that doesn't involve anyone taking responsibility, its just kicking the can down the road. Administration sends emails to faculty about flexibility but can't get our mental health services off of a six month wait list. Most faculty aren't trained to teach - even fewer are trained for this. Frankly, you don't want us to play mental health professional. I feel responsible for the way my classes interact with students' mental health. For my own mental health I wish I could not be responsible for the impact my (less generous) peers have on them. Where it starts to affect my mental health is that I feel responsible for my universities policies and the way students treat each other and the way society treats mental health. There are so many stressors that are so far beyond both my responsibility and control. I wish I could convince this country to maybe address mental health as an illness, work to meet people's basic needs, make college free or low cost - that would do far more for mental health than I can. At some point, my own mental health requires me to put some emotional distance between me and the students stressed about med school so I can focus on trying to link the students who are homeless to housing resources. Story for context: in fall of 2020, I had a student BEG me to bump their grade up to an incomplete because they had miscalculated their grade. I sent them five emails of increasing frankness telling them 'you earned an A and our school doesn't do +/-' including pointing out their miscalculation. They literally came to my office in tears. I told them, again, no seriously YOU GOT EARNED AN A. they filed a grade complaint. Charitability appreciated, I should have phrased more carefully. I'm one of the people who has been banging the drum on this for years and it's frustrating to see it now used as a justification for all sorts of stupid crap and larger asks of faculty that are not reasonable. When I see 'mental health' used as a reason to push people back to the classroom I fume - the mental health issues were there before and no one really cared, I don't believe you actually care now.

lapsedacademic 5y ago

There's a big and important difference between caring about something and feeling/being responsible for something. I care about an aircraft being flown safely. But for the love of God, don't put me in the cockpit and make me responsible for flying the plane safely. Ditto for mental health of undergrads when I'm lecturing. I'm there to teach them how to implement a red-black tree. Do I care about their mental health? Of course. Do I feel any responsibility for it? Hell no. Sometimes caring about something means NOT taking responsibility for that thing.