Assignment 1: Issue Exploration

Running head: RESILIENCE IN COLLEGE 1

Resilience and Improving the College Experience

Joan Dunbar

University of Maryland Global Campus

1. Nguyen, T. (2019, March 8). Reading, writing, and resilience: In the face of a student

mental-health crisis, colleges incorporate wellness into the curriculum. The

Chronicle of Higher Education, A8+. Retrieved December 4, 2019, from

https://www.chronicle.com

2. Document URL:

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=

edsgcl.579342109&site=eds-live&scope=site. Acesso em: 4 dez. 2019.

3. Summary

In his recent article, Reading, writing, and resilience, Terry Nguyen expresses concerns

about the expectations on college students on and off the campus. He explores colleges taking a

progressive approach to students’ mental wellness. For example, he sites University of Southern

California as providing credit for a wellness class with very little accountability, but a culture of

caring that seems to be missing in the current college curriculum.

Published in the Chronical of Higher Education, Nguyen’s audience is largely industry

leaders and change agents in education. Readers can expect follow-up articles and emerging

research on creating cultures of caring in education that the article remembers as part of the

Jesuits’ educational experience, but that has not really been part of mainstream university

curriculum. Nguyen expects psychology departments to lead the way, with law schools, medical

schools, and social sciences following the trend. The applications for creating a culture of caring

RESILIENCE IN COLLEGE 2

potentially overlap into other industries where stress impacts performance, such as the medical

field, or law enforcement.

Though the course is still optional, it is well enrolled. Other colleges and universities will

look to these early examples as they work to retain students, building stamina and ultimately

resilience. Apparently, self-reflection and encouraging curiosity are cornerstones of the highly

collaborative environment. In another example, John Hollway, associate dean of the University

of Pennsylvania Law School said, “Wellness is a set of life skills.” He continues, “Those life

skills are legal skills.” UPenn sees the program as part of their professional responsibility

coursework that third-year law students take. Their wellness curriculum is founded in resilience

training, optimistic vocabulary training, and stress management.

4. Related to Society/Life

According to a recent CNN article by Christina Walker (July, 2019), there have been 22

high school shootings reported so far in 2019. Such incidents impact thousands of young people

headed for college and the world of work. Most comprehensive high schools enroll more than a

1,000 students. Surely, students gathering for an opportunity to learn are not expecting to be

targets. Obviously, more than just the students attending the schools where the shootings

occurred are going to be impacted.

Modern American society normalizes violence and despair, so it is no wonder young

adults, many of whom are experiencing independence for the first time when they go to college

struggle with mental wellness. Add to the trauma with poverty, young families, multiple jobs,

and just daily life and it is a wonder such programs have not been in place before now. Students

facing the prospect of caring for themselves and for their families find themselves ill-equipped to

handle the stress of a full course-load.

RESILIENCE IN COLLEGE 3

5. Related to Field of Study

Educators, moving forward, will increasingly be trained in practices of care. Instructional

practice will involve emotional wellness, character education, and generally dealing with the

impact of living in an overtly violent and published world. Students must learn how to navigate

the internet safely. They must learn to collaborate with one another without fear of disapproval.

Teachers and professors will lead the way with compassion and genuine concern for their

students’ well-being. The examples in the article suggest the highest caliber learning institutions

are forging the way, but it will be a grass-roots movement at the classroom level that will really

make a difference in the lives of most students. When instructors decide to care about the student

before their content, their courses, they will take the first steps toward integrating mental

wellness into their beloved content.

6. Questions that Remain

1. How will instructional leaders frame mental wellness amid a rigorous educational

experience?

2. What other stakeholders can be named to help young people in developing resilience as

they earn a valuable degree?

3. What is the role of the individual student in achieving mental wellness and building

resilience?