Last quarter for me was ridiculously free of student flakes. I had two recurring students who caused brief flashes of rage, but otherwise, it was peaceful. Compared to other quarters, this was bordering on Nirvana... well, not quite, but at least it was like lounging in Purgatory.The only two hiccups I had were with students I will call Jordan and Riley, both thoroughly pleasant students who have serious health problems.
Due to being morbidly obese, Jordan does not fit in any of the desks in our assigned classroom. Moreover, the only available classroom with free-standing chairs and desks was on the third floor of a building with no elevator. Jordan could not climb up three floors without having heart palpitations, so we stayed in our assigned room and Jordan wedged herself into an armchair that she had brought and left in the classroom (I have no idea if she was dropping off furniture in each classroom where she had classes). She reminded me of a child in a self-imposed timeout.
The other student, Riley, is the opposite of Jordan. Riley is scarily thin, to the degree that she has grown peach fuzz on her body and also has heart palpitations from climbing up stairs. Riley is emancipated from her parents, a battle she readily brags about when anyone asks what her parents do. As a result of this, she claims her life has become much better and that she loves her new-found independence. But her independence seems to come at a serious price.
Social problems of isolation and self consciousness aside, both of these students clearly need medical intervention. In our department meetings, we have talked about these two students (they are majors) because we are concerned about their overall well being. Since our department is small (we only have about 35 majors), we get to know our students fairly well over four years at this SLAC. As far as anyone (including classmates and roommates of these individuals) knows, they are not seeking medical care.
Due to the sensitive nature of both of their health problems, no one thinks it appropriate to approach either of these students to recommend seeking additional medical care and/or counseling over the summer. The Counseling Center has been consulted and also claims that counselors cannot intervene unless the students actually do something that merits attention (that 'something' being attempting suicide in a more direct manner). I am not sure how long Jordan and Riley will likely be able to continue functioning in college, and the quality of life each is living is clearly being affected. It breaks my heart to think that if we do not intervene, they will likely live a short life.
If one's life is at risk, we have wondered: is it appropriate for an academic department to say, in some way or another: "We cannot allow you to continue at this school until you get your health together"? It feels like this might be the only intervention they receive, but it is clearly an overstepping of boundaries and would receive no support from Administration. Moreover, would doing that cut the students off from the only support system (in the form of being majors and belonging to the department) that the students already have?
Have any of you had experiences with students with eating disorders who seem to need intervention? HELP!
"morbidly obese" = "fatphobic language". You're supposed to say "Due to the fact that Jordan was massed differently." and you're not supposed to acknowledge that it in any way shape or form could possibly have any kind of negative effect on his life. You are the enemy. Even if you're over weight yourself, "morbidly obese" and/or discussion of how being over weight brings pain to one of your students makes you bad. I'm surprised you didn't know that.
ReplyDeleteYou're right: I now know better and will also refer to myself as "differently massed."
DeleteYou are kidding, right?
DeleteBob, of course. :o) I am. Whether Wombat is serious, who knows. :o)
DeleteI am also in a dept with a small number of majors that often have difficult problems. Personally, I feel that we *have* to intervene in these situations. I have sat down with students and talked about mental health, weight, abusive relationships, etc. because I care about them. To Jordan, ask if she is getting medical help with her shortness of breath. That is not talking about her weight -- that is expressing concern for her health. It sounds like Riley is crying out for help -- ask if she is getting counseling about her family situation. It is not at all difficult to talk to the students without name-calling or insulting them. Be prepared to find help for them if they want it. And if they don't respond, then you have done your best.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hellish Harpy. Most people in the dept. seem to think that it's none of our business, although they are very concerned that "SOMETHING MUST BE DONE." I'm glad your experience was that students were receptive to hearing your concerns.
DeleteWell...I don't yet have advice as an instructor, thankfully, but I was actually a Riley once. I don't quite know how it happened, but, in ca. 2005, my own SLAC would not permit me to return until I sorted things out. The agents were my dean and health services, and the latter had the authority to set conditions for my enrollment. If Riley and Jordan live in the dorms, their hall advisors might be able to require that they visit the health center. Otherwise, you might bypass Counseling and alert the medical staff, certainly mentioning the students' heart problems. Good luck to them and to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I appreciate your insight.
DeleteI never had much success fixing people. Turns out I'm quite broken myself.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Jordan and Riley know something you don't know. Maybe you could learn something from them.
I don't want to fix them. I merely don't want them to die!
DeleteThat's a bit like lying awake in bed at 4:00a.m. and not wanting the sun to come up.
DeleteI may be dense today, but I don't get your analogy...
DeleteSuppose Jordan and Riley both have cancer, and you know that they'll both be dead in six months if they don't start receiving chemotherapy this week. Jordan acknowledges these facts and declines chemo. Riley is in complete denial about the cancer (and you somehow personally observed her doctor telling her about the cancer and chemo).
DeleteIn either case, do you talk to the student about the cancer/chemo? What do you say? Do you bar the student from your class until she starts chemo?
You said that Jordan is documented as morbidly obese on her disability form. I wonder. Our proffies don't see the students' diagnoses; rather, they are told what accommodations they must make for the students.
Teach the student. Be the proffie. Tell, and show, the student how much you appreciate her good qualities. If you don't think she has any good qualities, then just treat her with respect.
Not enough? You still want to be the savior? Then call the VPSA's assistant now and make an appointment to discuss the welfare of Jordan and Riley. But what if your VPSA resigned this morning and the interim VPSA you see tomorrow morning is morbidly obese? What will you say to hir at that appointment? Will you confront hir about hir health issues? Will you make an appointment with the school president to discuss the welfare of Jordan, Riley, and the interim VPSA?
Jordan and Riley are going to struggle and then die. And you're human, so it all makes you sad. It's really hard, isn't it?
Worse yet, some smarmy bastard down below the Mason-Dixon will remind you about the bell tolling for you, and that will make you want to drink even more.
Ah, I see. So you recommend we just leave them alone. That's hard, Bubba! I don't want to leave them alone. I want Health Services to intervene and get them some help so they aren't likely to pass out in my classes.
DeleteActually, the DSS form I have for Jordan has specific information about her health and what she can and cannot do. I think because there are any number of things that she cannot do (i.e. anything that raises blood pressure), so they included the info so the professors wouldn't take the class on a hike or climb up to the top floor of the library, for example. Whether they're supposed to include that is their problem, but then again, you also know that my DSS is the office that claimed a student had a "distance disability" because he lived too far away from campus to arrive for a test on time.
I think if we were assured that the students were getting or had declined medical care (such as in the case of a cancer patient who declined chemo), we'd feel better and would leave definitely respect their wishes. I think the lack of information about whether they know that they are in trouble and need to get some is what is fueling the concern... In some cases, people don't always recognize that they need help. But yeah, it's not an easy solution, so what will likely happen is that no one will say anything and both will disappear (one way or another... graduation, medical leave, death... it's inevitable for us all).
DeleteNow, now, Cynic. I didn't recommend leaving them alone with no cell phone in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Just respect their choices while also taking appropriate actions. The VPSA and DSS know how to handle these matters. Jordan is obviously on their radar because she's got the disability form. I don't remember whether you said Riley was in their system. Regardless, keep checking with the VPSA/DSS if you're concerned. That's their area of expertise; your area of expertise is analyzing Wittgensteinian hamster fur weaving.
DeleteMaybe the glass is half full. Attending your class (however sporadically) might be the bright spot in the final days of these two students. During their doctor visits, they might be saying, "Well, Doc, it sucks that I'm dying, but I really love going to Prof Cynic's class when I can make it. I feel rejuvenated after that class."
Possible future Cynic lines:
"Jordan, that's an interesting analysis of the hamster fur in chapter 5 of Finnegan's Wake. I don't recall any student ever looking at it from that perspective. High five!"
"Riley, I've got an old sweater my grandmother made for me in my office that I'd be glad to loan you during class. I just washed it with hypoallergenic detergent."
"Hey, Jordan, my husband and I are playing miniature golf this evening, but we need one more person for a foursome. We'd love for you to join us. Can we pick you up?"
Thanks for the laughs. :o)
Delete@Cynic: It was not really meant to be funny (although I can understand how it might have been interpreted that way). You want to save these students' lives and you think you can do it somehow. And yet you are amused by my assertion that you and your class might be a very positive influence on the students.
DeleteSo are you powerful or powerless?
Can they hang out together? Maybe everything will average out.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as you're the parent of either, feel free to get involved. Otherwise, teach them the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteDo you think because their afflictions are so easily seen that they are the only ones who need interventions of varying types?
Our SLAC has policies of intervention for students with other visible (and invisible) "afflictions" that require intervention (psych problems, drug and alcohol problems, PTSD, all manner of disabilities, etc.), but no policies or options for students who struggle with eating disorders who live off campus. Those in the residence halls have RAs and deans to intervene. If one of them were to become a cutter, for example, we have a policy for that. But if they simply stop eating, nothing can be done about that, apparently. Because these two live off campus, they do not fall under the purview of the residence hall or health services staff, or anyone, for that matter, apparently.
DeleteI agree that the parents should ideally be the ones to intervene, but parents have not intervened and are not the ones who see them daily (in the case of Riley, no parents ever see her). Parents see them, maybe once or twice a year, since we are a residential campus. I hope that they get some help this summer when or if they do go home, but I don't know if they will without someone intervening. They haven't gotten help up to this point (from what any of us can tell), and they need help.
No, I don't think that because their afflictions are visible, that they are the only ones who need interventions. Good God, I've written on here about students with way more visible "afflictions" who got the help they needed because their problems were ones that we could pinpoint as intervention-worthy. It isn't because of the visibility that I'm concerned. I'm concerned because they need help that no one seems able to offer unless they collapse of myocardial infarction in class.
I was wrong earlier; I apologize. After thinking about it some and reading your note and F&T's below, I'm embarrassed at how casually I responded.
DeleteI will endeavor to do better in future correspondence.
No apologies needed, but thanks for being so gracious.
DeleteI think a gentle inquiry about their health with no reference to their weight is the compassionate thing to do. It may not make a difference, but if either one died, you'd want to have done what you could, in whatever limited way is available to you. It's about being able to sleep at night, in the end.
ReplyDeleteI think this is exactly right. I was not thinking straight when I replied earlier, and I'm embarrassed.
DeleteWell said!
Remember "In loco parentis"? When that was in effect, colleges could intervene in their students' personal lives in many ways.
ReplyDeleteThat was a wee while ago. The assumption now is that if students are over 18, they are adults. They often don't act that way, but that's what they are, in the eyes of the law.
If you want to have your students committed against their will to any kind of health facility, I suggest you be very, very careful. People will scream "Invasion of privacy!" at the slightest imagined provocation these days, and once this happens, your relationship with these students will have changed irrevocably. At the very least, discuss this with your department chair and the director of your campus health center, at the same time, and get copies in writing of the relevant pages of your faculty handbook and your college health center's regulations. Good luck!
Frod, thanks. We have been discussing this as a whole department all quarter. There are NO policies in the faculty handbook or the college health center to deal with off campus students with eating disorders (or any health problems, aside from drug and alcohol abuse, which has clear penalties of suspension or expulsion, depending on the situation). The only policies are in the student handbook that shows a chain of command for students in the dorms (RA notifies Director of Residence Life, who notifies Health Center and Counseling Center to intervene). But the academic dean has told us that because there is no policy for off-campus students, we are on our own to decide what to do with this situation since the Counseling Center has said off-campus students are not under their purview and that they cannot approach a student without a referral or a REAL reason, and the Health Center staff have said similarly: they can only intervene if the student is putting themselves at immediate risk of danger, in which case they'd either send them to the ER or the Psych Ward (which neither of these students needs). It's an odd distinction between on-campus students and those living off-campus, apparently.
DeleteAnyway, thanks for the warnings!
Are you a medical doctor? Do you have access to these students medical records? Are you qualified to evaluate those records? On what professional basis and documented medical facts do you make your diagnosis that these two students have serious health problems and eating disorders? Why should you interfere in the private health decisions made by these students? How do you know what those decisions are? Why is your department discussing alleged health problems without having documented medical evidence of these problems? What qualifies you to evaluate the medical needs of these students? What gives you the right to intervene?
ReplyDeleteIt is really great that you care about these students enough to want to do something. Weight issues carry such a stigma in our society that many people prefer to ignore them.
ReplyDeleteJordan is very likely aware of her issue, but may feel helpless to do anything about it. For people who are morbidly obese, very few people can successfully diet and keep the weight off without surgical intervention. The best thing you can do for her is to refer her to the counseling center and to help her make the classroom more accessible by advocating for appropriate desks for people of size (just as you would for anyone else with a disability).
From your description, Riley is showing signs of an eating disorder that she may or may not be aware she has. Our society rewards thin, so she may see it as a badge of honor rather than a serious health issue. As Frog and Toad suggested, a compassionate inquiry into her health status with referrals to both the counseling center and medical services would be appropriate.
Good luck!
I don't think anyone is talking about committing students against their will. That's absurd. As Reg W. recognized, we're talking about the difference between saying nothing at all and saying gently to each student, "This may be none of my business, but I am concerned that climbing the stairs seems to cause you such physical strain. Are you getting medical help, or is this an issue for the disability office such that accommodations might be made?"
ReplyDeleteSo, in my sentence there, yes, there is a small chance that the anorexic or obese student will be mortified. But there is an equal chance that a glimmer of someone caring might open something up - get the student to counseling or to a doctor, or to the disability office that might then make a referral. The student could die anyway, but not because you did nothing.
OK then, I suggest you think about what to do if either student tells you to mind your own business. The helicopter-parented generation is very good at reminding you that charges will be filed.
DeleteAnd again: at the very least, before taking any action, discuss this with your department chair and the director of your campus health center, at the same time, and get copies in writing of the relevant pages of your faculty handbook and your college health center's regulations. Read them, too.
Then, you mind your own business. Obviously. Pressing an issue after being told not to is harassment.
DeleteBut are we so litigation-shy that one kind inquiry is off limits? Sorry, but I'll take the risk. My heart just isn't that shriveled up yet.
Definitely: no one is talking about committing anyone against their will. This is something the whole department is already discussing (including the chair and the academic dean, who has sat in on a meeting to let us know that we cannot do anything because we have no policy for eating disorders, per se, only drug or alcohol abuse or documented or observable psych disorders). We simply don't want to harm the students, no matter what we do. So we're debating whether approaching them about it will do more harm than good. Yes, they are probably aware of their problems (how could they not be?), but may not realize the severity of it without someone pointing out that they need to seek care.
DeleteSomeone above asked whether we are medical professionals. I don't understand what that has to do with anything. Are only medical professionals allowed to intervene if someone is clearly harming her health?
I've had to deal with this once before. We had a Riley. We brought her in, and started with open ended questions. We guided the conversation to that direction and eventually told her our concerns. She was receptive, but somewhat in denial. She took a semester break that was supervised by the student health center and the school psychologist. She returned and finished her program.
ReplyDeleteWe ARE a medical program, however our accrediting body clearly states that we can NOT treat our students. That was left to the student health center.
Did you do this as a whole department, or just a few professors or one?
DeleteWe did this with a few professors that are in frequent contact with the individual.
DeleteAlso, just to clarify, we mostly gave her an opportunity to open up on her own. We guided the conversation in that direction without being overtly prodding. We started with something like "How are you doing?" and went from there.
I'm surprised that in the original post you ask whether the "department" should do something. It might be helpful to instead ask if there's anything you can do as individuals. As Brown Cow says, denial might be a problem, but you're unlikely to rouse the student's ire if you make it clear that you're simply offering help if they should want any. "If you ever want, I can refer you to people who can get you help." Or just open the subject and let them vent.
ReplyDeleteThere's an obvious opening, which you made: "I notice you're out of breath when you get to the top of the stairs. Should I be worried? Are you getting medical help?"
You're right. I don't think we would, as a whole department, call them in (that would have freaked me out as a student for any reason), but no one wants to overstep boundaries within the department, either (as an individual). The discussion options have been to see what's appropriate and to make sure that not everyone is pulling these students aside so they don't become defensive and feel attacked (as can happen).
DeleteThe department discussions have also centered around wondering if, as in the case of Anteater above, we could tell students that since their poor health is so severely affecting their experience here, it is in their best interest to take time off to attend to that. I haven't listed all the ways in which their health has affected their learning experience, but attendance has been very poor and other problems have arisen. We care about them, so I think once a department spokesperson is chosen, that person will casually inquire about their health, as some have pointed out here.
I'm surprised that in the original post you ask whether the "department" should do something. It might be helpful to instead ask if there's anything you can do as individuals. As Brown Cow says, denial might be a problem, but you're unlikely to rouse the student's ire if you make it clear that you're simply offering help if they should want any. "If you ever want, I can refer you to people who can get you help." Or just open the subject and let them vent.
ReplyDeleteThere's an obvious opening, which you made: "I notice you're out of breath when you get to the top of the stairs. Should I be worried? Are you getting medical help?"
Since it is clear that a direct response is required, I will be direct. It is completely out of bounds to make unsolicited inquiries about the medical needs of students or colleagues unless there is an obvious emergency. But what really kills me here is the presumptuous attitude that some have taken about the health of the students in question. The claim is that these students are "morbidly obese" and "scarily thin." This is nothing more than an ill-informed opinion from an unqualified observer.
ReplyDeleteI've had to deal with meddling health crazies where I work. Now, I have a lawyer who is willing to sue the pants off of the next fucker who doesn't mind her own business.
Flower Snark, I'm so sorry you've had to deal with health inquiries to the degree that it has become invasive to your life. That is precisely what we hope to avoid with these students because it clearly just makes people defensive.
DeleteNo, we don't know all the ins and outs of their medical histories (except for Jordan, who is documented as "morbidly obese" on her disability form), but it really doesn't take a medical professional to see that they need help and, if they are under medical care, are not getting enough care. I haven't listed all of the symptoms or all of the adjustments that have had to be made on their behalf because it wasn't really necessary in the post (Riley cannot walk from class to class without an hour break between classes because she has no energy to simply walk; Jordan cannot take tests that cause her blood pressure to go up because she might have a heart attack; Riley shivers uncontrollably when the temperature drops below 88-degrees and asks that the AC or fans be turned off because she is cold, which means everyone else is sweltering in the heat and cannot concentrate; Jordan sometimes falls asleep in her chair and appears to stop breathing momentarily, as if she has sleep apnea, and these are simply a few of the things we've noticed). Everyone is concerned not because we want to isolate or make them feel embarrassed or continually badger them. Since we have observed their health steadily decline and they have made no changes in their living conditions that anyone can observe (yes, I know that they may be seeking help without our knowledge), we are very concerned, and the concern may be making us less rational than we should be, but it's also been a two-year process of watching them decline.
Thank you for pointing out that we aren't medically qualified. We'd like them to seek help from someone who is, at this point.
I think it is great that you actually care about your students' health and welfare, but you may also want to keep in mind that their "weight problems" could be caused by other health conditions and that they may already be under a doctor's care. I've had close friends on either end of the spectrum, one who was on medication for a health problem that caused them to gain over 100 lbs in less than a year and to struggle with that for years as their doctors worked to find a balance, and two friends with chronic illnesses that caused them to be "scarily thin." One had a gastrointestinal issue that kept them from keeping down most of their food and had them in and out of the hospital, and another with a condition where they didn't properly absorb the nutrients from foods that they ate. So if you do make a comment about your concern, be aware of this possibility as well.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right: they may have conditions that cause weight gain or loss that we aren't aware of, in addition to the behaviors that we see them exhibit.
DeleteYou don't get it Contemplative Cynic. Making an unsolicited inquiry about a student's alleged health issues is entirely inappropriate, unprofessional, and should be grounds for dismissal. Even if you were qualified to determine that these students have the issues you claim they have, it would still be completely wrong to inquire about those issues unless the students approached you first. Doesn't your institution provide training that explains the legal rights of students and colleagues?
ReplyDeleteThere's a legal right protecting you from people who are concerned about you from voicing those concerns? What a fucked up world we live in.
DeleteIt's a shame that you, personally, have apparently suffered from repeated "interference" to the point of harassment, but it's more of a shame you don't recognize that as by the lesser of two evils.
Actually, Flower Snark, I believe you're mistaken that any inquiries about a person's overall well being are illegal. Goodness, if that were the case, simply asking, 'How are you?" or "Have you recovered from the flu you had last week?" would be grounds for dismissal. While we cannot probe into a student's health record, due to HIPAA regulations, asking someone if they're OK because they're out of breath is NOT illegal.
DeleteMy institution actually now provides optional training during faculty orientation to recognize these health problems in students so we CAN get them help. The DSS and Counseling Center both started to provide sessions to faculty and staff to be aware of how psych disorders, disabilities, and other problems such as caffeine overdose (thank you, energy drinks), alcohol and drug abuse and eating disorders manifest themselves in students. DSS and the Counseling Center are clear we do not diagnose students and that we simply refer them to DSS or the Counseling Center if they exhibit behaviors that concern us.
All on-campus students living in the residence halls sign an agreement to abide by the campus policies, including ones dealing with their health (no drug and alcohol on campus, for example). The problem is that these students live off campus where they don't fall under the on-campus residence hall policies that students living in residence halls agree to when they live on campus. IF they lived on campus, they would have already been approached by residence hall staff and Health Services to intervene (this has happened in the past with students in the residence halls), so you are mistaken that a school cannot intervene in the health of a student.
Ditto Stew, and thank you CC.
DeleteFlower Snark, though I am sorry to hear about your experiences, being ready to sue the pants off of anyone who inquires about your well-being does not make the world a better place for the disabled or ill. If we are all too scared of poeple like you to make gentle, non-judgmental inquiries, we contribute to a sucky, miserable existence for those people, especially the young, for whom concern is justified and even sometimes welcome. What I would have done as a college sophomore for a professor, or any adult with whom I was in regular contact, to notice that I was encaged in a massive and life-maiming depression, and to suggest that maybe something different was possible. It would have saved me years of agony.
I refuse to live my life in fear of bullies who threaten to sue. There used to be a couple in my department, and I stood up to them. They backed down and shut up.
Thank you, Frog and Toad (I still like to call you Froad). :o) It is good to hear your experience and that of Anteater's above that affirm that sometimes people need intervention. I was close with two professors in college who helped me to get out of an abusive relationship that I didn't even recognize as abusive until they pointed it out to me... but not everyone is in need of intervention, and as evidenced here, some people view it as completely inappropriate and as an act of harassment.
DeleteI don't want to be the person who should have helped but didn't because of fear.
Yes, thanks, CC and F&T. I was very cross at the time, but still graduated on schedule, and it feels odd to mention the incident now. With some legal and college-sanctioned delicacy, you might be in a position to help Jordan and Riley simply move on.
DeleteAlso, I don't know whether you've realized, but Riley would grit her teeth and keep her coldness and independence, etc., to herself if she wanted to be left alone. I'm no psychologist but have spent enough time in the miserable company of anorexics to be confident in this assertion.
Good point. Thanks, Anteater. I'm glad you are well and were helped by intervention. Let's hope the same happens for Jordan and Riley.
DeleteStop being a busy-body and mind your own business.
ReplyDeleteUnless there is some sort of emergency, you're pushing yourself into someone's private life.
Stay out!
And stop trying to twist yourself into knots thinking of a way to intervene. Maybe you need the intervention.
I'll take this message as a form of intervention.
DeleteP.S. We actually DO deem this an emergency, but thanks for your kindly worded advice.
Delete"I move that we create a permanent subcommittee to investigate the welfare of Jordan and Riley (and any students who resemble them)."
ReplyDelete"Second!"
"Discussion?"
"Well, yes, I really think Jordan deserves a subcommittee all to herself, but Riley...."
{{{ y a w n }}}
CASE CLOSED?! :o)
DeleteThe_Myth has it 100% right.
ReplyDeleteI never claimed that it is illegal to inquire about a person's well-being. But simple innocent inquiries are not being discussed here. Intervention is not innocent and it may be construed as harassment. The inquiries that have been proposed are not "non-judgmental," they are ill-informed biased opinions based on anecdotal evidence.
My experiences with health crazies are irrelevant. The claim that I am a bully because I refuse to submit to the prejudicial judgments of do-gooders is absolutely ridiculous. The bullies are those who insist that people they perceive as needing intervention are forced into that intervention. But one correspondent believes that it is a shame that I didn't submit because ill-informed intervention it is the lesser of two evils. Crazy.
Since the students never signed a contract giving the school the right to intervene, the school has no right to intervene unless there are exceptional circumstances. Being cold or out of breath are not exceptional circumstances.
Am I cold and heartless? No. In loco parentis died for very good reasons and its revival is completely undesirable. I keep my concern for a student's well-being private unless the student approaches me first or if there is an emergency. To act otherwise is to impose my will and biased judgment on a student, something I do not have the right to do. I do keep my students informed of the psychological and medical resources available to them, but it is up to them to access those resources.
Flower Snark, I appreciate your perspective because it clearly shows how defensive someone can become when confronted with a concern for hir health. You have also shown how one can perceive concern as harassment, which is certainly not what we want for these students. Worrying about their well being is exactly why we have simply observed them decline for over two years. I appreciate that you are trying to protect the students' rights to privacy in your own way without knowing the details and by making judgments based on what little has been shared here. It sounds like you've had a really bitter experience. That is NOT what we want to happen with these students.
DeleteI am curious, though: how do you make it known to students which psych and medical resources are available? Do you simply announce this at the beginning of the term to all students so they all know what's available, or do you let specific students you think might warrant help know of the resources?
58 comments and counting.
ReplyDeleteAnybody want to go to a candlelight vigil for a dead student? I hear there's a good one tonight. Lots of crying. Some kumbaya. Maybe popcorn and ice cream.
Yup! Let's all talk about what a shame it was and how we didn't see it coming.
DeleteAs I said earlier, my experiences are irrelevant. And I'm not protecting students' right to privacy "in my own way," I'm protecting students' rights in the way I was trained to protect them.
ReplyDeleteHow do I make students aware of the resources available to them? I tell them several times a semester. I put the information on the syllabus, send out email messages containing the information to the entire class, post the information on the course website, and give it out verbally in class. If I suspect that one student is having difficulty, I provide everyone with the information. No one is singled out for my biased scrutiny. Some students have asked me why I keep repeating the information, but I just tell them that I want to make sure they know it.
Sometimes, a student will tell me they've gone for help, but most of the time I have no idea which students seek out medical assistance.
Thank you for your contribution.
Delete