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Advocate Online
Speaking Out
Hope for Our Students
As a person who once labeled herself
a liberal idealist, I read the headline: "College Freshmen More Politically
Liberal Than in the Past, UCLA Survey Reveals" with a smile and hope.
I hope that our American university
campuses might soon be the places where open, spirited debate about values,
as well as respectful listening to others whose opinions differ from our
own might once again happen in classrooms, coffee shops, and residence
hall lounges.
When I read further, the sections
of the survey that measured our incoming students' sense of health, wellness,
and academic engagement, a deep concern enveloped me.
I read that this year's freshman
class's self-ratings of physical and emotional health "hit record
lows;" that only 53.4 percent of freshmen consider "their emotional
health as above average"; that "fewer women than men rate themselves
highly on emotional health;" that "today's college freshmen
continue to be disengaged."
What do these survey findings mean
for us, who work as student personnel professionals and faculty on America's
college campuses? What do we need to change as we do our work? With whom
do we need to share this information on our campuses?
I work as a psychologist in the counseling
center of a major midwestern university. For me and my colleagues, this
survey news may mean we'll have more students seeking counseling services
than in previous years. As budgets get tighter and positions get cut and
as our colleagues age and retire, counselors as well as faculty colleagues
will probably be "doing more with less."
The more hopeful of us may decide
to use the survey results to buttress our arguments as we write our requests
for more staff to provide much-needed service to our students.
Some of us may decide to collaborate
with faculty colleagues to use our talents and experience to come up with
ways to bring our students more hope. Maybe students who have hope are
less apt to become disengaged from learning.
Maybe we can use the old teaching
technique of pointing out what students do well, suggesting what they
might want to change, and then giving them the tools to make the changes.
Maybe there is hope for us old liberal idealists.
 Eleanor
B. Bossi, a licensed psychologist, has
worked as a clinician and teacher at Michigan State University since 1986.
She's a member of NEA's Administrative Professional Association at MSU.
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I'd like to say!
I was so moved by Matthew
Miltich's essay, excerpted from the Winter 2001-2002
Thought & Action and published in NEA
Today, that I sought out the article on the
Web.
The truly radical and profound
point that Miltich makes is that rather than "focusing
on measurement, data gathering, and quantification,"
the focus should be provision.
Educational institutions are
virtually starving as all manner of needs are
inadequately provided for. Miltich's essay is
true at any level of education from preschool
through college. I urge all NEA members to look
up the full text at www.nea.org/he/tanda.html.
Then copy it and share it widely.
—Suzy Grindrod
Madison, Wisconsin
Professor Germann (February
Dialogue)
doesn't want the college administration to dictate
policy on student-faculty relationships.
Despite his protestations of
our ability to decide for ourselves what constitutes
unprofessional behavior, in the absence of a standard,
a capricious administration could arbitrarily
accuse a faculty member of unprofessionalism.
When one has a standard, the faculty is protected
from false accusations of inappropriate behavior.
Assuming adminstrations adhere to the policy,
of course.
—Howard J. Weigel
Cape Cod Community College
Share your opinion
Write to us at: Clehane@nea.org
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