BC psych professor says students need to ‘buck up’
Cites students who sought counseling and called the police after seeing a mouse
BC Psych Professor Peter Gray has attracted attention for writing that students are emotionally fragile and oversensitive.
In a piece for article in Psychology Today, Gray wrote about a pair of students who “sought counseling because they had seen a mouse in their off-campus apartment,” and called the police.
He seems to attribute the problem to decreased resilience among young people when it comes to dealing with daily problems.
Though Professor Gray does not identify the university he is referring to in the article, his comments will be interpreted by some students as a criticism of BC’s sheltered culture.
Prof Gray said: “Students are increasingly seeking help for, and apparently having emotional crises over, problems of everyday life.
“So now, here’s what we have: Young people, 18 years and older, going to college still unable or unwilling to take responsibility for themselves, still feeling that if a problem arises they need an adult to solve it.”
He cites an email from an unidentified head of a university counseling service, which says, “The lack of resilience is interfering with the academic mission of the University and is thwarting the emotional and personal development of students.”
In providing examples of such everyday life-crises cited at the unidentified university’s welfare summit, Gray writes: “Two students who had sought counseling because they had seen a mouse in their off-campus apartment. The latter two also called the police, who kindly arrived and set a mousetrap for them.
“Another recent example mentioned included a student who felt traumatized because her roommate had called her a ‘bitch.'”
According to Gray, students are increasingly seeing “C” or even “B” grades as a crippling failure. He said: “Some [faculty] said they had grown afraid to give low grades for poor performance, because of the subsequent emotional crises they would have to deal with in their offices.”
He added that students are becoming increasingly prone to blaming professors for poor performances, instead of reflecting on their own study habits or homework preparation.
Prof Gray cites helicopter parenting as once source, of many, that have contributed to this overwhelming lack of self-sufficiency at universities.