In my experience, freshmen today are different from those I knew when I started as a counselor and professor 25 years ago. College has always been demanding both academically and socially. But students now are less mature and often not ready for the responsibility of being in college.

   It is really too easy to point the finger at parents who protect their children from life’s obstacle. Parents, who handle every difficulty and every other responsibility for their children writing admission essays to picking college courses, certainly may contribute to their children’s lack of coping strategies. But we can look even more broadly to the social trends of today.

   How many people do you know who are on medication to prevent anxiety or depression? The number of students who arrive at college already medicated for unwanted emotions has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. We, as a society, don’t want to “feel” anything unpleasant and we certainly don’t want our children to “suffer”.

   The resulting problem is that by not experiencing negative emotions, one does not learn the necessary skills to tolerate and negotiate adversity. As a psychologist, I am well aware of the fact that some individuals suffer from depression and anxiety and can benefit from treatment, but I question the growing number of medicated adolescents today.

   Our world is more stressful in general because of the current economic and political realities, but I don’t believe that the college experience itself is more intense today than that of the past 10 years. What I do think is that many students are often not prepared to be young “adults” with all the responsibilities of life.

   What does this mean for college faculty and staff? We are required to assist in the basic parenting of these students – the student who complains that the professor didn’t remind her of the due date for an assignment that was clearly listed on the syllabus and the student who cheats on an assignment in spite of careful instructions about plagiarism.

   As college professors, we have to explain what it means to be an independent college student before we can even begin to teach. As parents and teachers we should expect young people to meet challenges. To encourage them in this direction, we have to step back and let them fail and pick themselves up and move forward. This approach needs to begin at an early age so that college can actually be a passage to independent adulthood.

Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

Câu hỏi liên quan

• Most people are afraid of being operated on ............

• The word "This" in paragraph 5 refers to .................

• According to the passage the first fire used by people was probably obtained ..........

ZUNIA12

• People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he__________.

• The word “Conversely” is OPPOSITE meaning to ...............

• What advantage did children have from this program?

• Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “tuck”?

• The word “imprisonment” in paragraph 2 is closet in meaning to _________.

• It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most likely endorse a program that .........

• Which of the following is TRUE according to passage?

• Why did the professor study the Brazilian students’ behaviour?

• The expression “on its own” in the last sentence can be best replaced by “.................”

• The writer uses the phrase “On the other hand” in the last paragraph to .......

•  The word “ them” which is bold and italic refers to ___________.

• Lake Vostok is potentially important to scientists because it________.

• According to the passage, the full-time university students have ............. of about 10 weeks in each year.

• The word "somewhat" in the last paragraph could best be replaced by ...........

• The word “it” in the second paragraph refers to ...........

• What does the writer’s brother do?

• According to the passage, which of the following sentence is NOT true?