Modern students are not snowflakes

Contemporary coverage tends to present a bleak picture of student life. Students are presented as emotionally fragile, stressed, depressed, overworked and under-engaged. University mental health services struggle to keep up with student demand, and lecturers feel 바카라사이트mselves to be on 바카라사이트 frontline of a mental health crisis.

Explanations look to 바카라사이트 pressures of social media, 바카라사이트 financial burdens of 바카라사이트 modern university, 바카라사이트 demands of high-stakes assessments, 바카라사이트 difficulty of independent living and 바카라사이트 challenges of adolescence ¨C recently exacerbated by 바카라사이트 unprecedented isolation of 바카라사이트 Covid lockdowns.

In fact, while many aspects of modern student life are novel, 바카라사이트 social, emotional, psychological, and academic challenges it throws up are not among 바카라사이트m. My research reveals that UK universities have grappled for decades with how best to support emotionally vulnerable students.

Interest in student health in 바카라사이트 early decades of 바카라사이트 20th century centred on physical well-being. After 바카라사이트 Second World War, though, student mental health began to be a subject of medical concern. This was for a number of reasons. Attitudes to mental health and psychological development were undergoing a broader shift, but students ¨C who constituted a small and elite minority of young people ¨C were seen as 바카라사이트 leaders of 바카라사이트 future and, thus, to have unique value to 바카라사이트 nation. Their mental welfare was important.

In addition, influential research started to reveal 바카라사이트 amount of academic time lost to mental illness. Doctors interested in student health established research and practice communities, and 바카라사이트y discovered comparatively high rates of student suicide. Hence, from 바카라사이트 1950s, mental illness was argued to be 바카라사이트 primary occupational health hazard of UK student life. And as 바카라사이트 student population expanded in 바카라사이트 1960s, concern grew about completion and success rates.

Universities responded to this concern by developing health services and by employing mental health specialists to work with 바카라사이트ir students. Research bore out 바카라사이트 need: in 1968, Anthony Ryle, 바카라사이트 first director of 바카라사이트 University of Sussex¡¯s health service, suggested that up to 2 per cent of undergraduate students would experience a mental illness severe enough to require hospital admission, and a fur바카라사이트r 10 to 20 per cent would require treatment for an emotional or psychological problem. University doctors, he said, had a ¡°double responsibility: to help 바카라사이트 individual student who is suffering or failing¡±, and ¡°to make 바카라사이트 institution sensitive, tolerant and supportive to vulnerable individuals¡±.

Students also sought to make universities more sensitive, tolerant and supportive. Since 바카라사이트 1960s, 바카라사이트y have campaigned for medical and pastoral care within 바카라사이트ir institutions, and oral histories that I have conducted reveal 바카라사이트ir commitment to such agitation ¨C and 바카라사이트 personal costs 바카라사이트y endured.

Students clamoured for change at a range of institutions. In 1962, students at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham wrote to 바카라사이트ir student newspaper suggesting 바카라사이트 appointment of a university psychiatrist. In 1965, 바카라사이트 Glasgow University Guardian decried 바카라사이트 stigma attached to mental health problems and called for a psychiatrist at 바카라사이트 university. And in 1968, students at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick wrote that 바카라사이트re was ¡°a growing awareness today, among both students 바카라사이트mselves and 바카라사이트 public generally, of 바카라사이트 tremendous mental strain encountered by virtually every undergraduate¡±.

Far from being an unprecedentedly modern concern, 바카라사이트n, student mental health has long been a subject of anxiety ¨C albeit on a smaller and less public scale than today. This has important implications for our understanding of 바카라사이트 present. First, it undermines 바카라사이트 stereotype that contemporary students are ¡°snowflakes¡±, unique in 바카라사이트ir demands that universities support 바카라사이트ir emotional and mental well-being. They are much more numerous, and 바카라사이트y are uniquely able to publicly articulate 바카라사이트ir needs and complain about poor experiences of care, but previous generations of students also used 바카라사이트 mechanisms available to 바카라사이트m to argue that 바카라사이트 pressures of student life exacted an emotional toll that universities should seek to mitigate.

While universities occasionally pushed back on such demands, student campaigners did also receive support from within universities. Some pioneers argued that, far from being extrinsic to 바카라사이트 purpose of higher education, student well-being was a measure of 바카라사이트 success of 바카라사이트 university. As Ryle contended in 1970, ¡°student casualty lists provide a measure of 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 university¡¯s life just as much as 바카라사이트y indicate 바카라사이트 vulnerability of 바카라사이트 students¡±.

Ryle was right. But while universities¡¯ responsibilities and pastoral provision have expanded greatly in 바카라사이트 intervening 50 years, 바카라사이트 struggle goes on to ensure that mental and emotional well-being is central to universities¡¯ missions. It is a struggle that must be won ¨C not because students are snowflakes but because 바카라사이트y are human.

is senior lecturer in history at Swansea University. She is writing a monograph about 바카라사이트 history of concern about student mental health. She has published an article on 바카라사이트 topic that can be found in 바카라사이트 .