AN ARTICLE in The New York Times about a survey of college freshmen makes this point:

Women’s sense of emotional well-being was more closely tied to how they felt the faculty treated them…. It wasn’t so much the level of contact as whether they felt they were being taken seriously by the professor. If not, it was more detrimental to women than to men.

The idea that a woman’s sense of well-being might be tied to how she treats others is not seriously considered.

                                                                        — Comments —

James P. writes:

“Women’s sense of emotional well-being was more closely tied to how they felt the faculty treated them….”

This reminds me of a discussion I had with a female classmate back in the 1980s. She complained to me about how she’d made an effort to establish a personal bond with all of her professors, but the professor in our class had been cold and dismissive. I couldn’t understand her problem to begin with, since I generally never made an effort to meet my profs outside of class. All I wanted from them, with a few exceptions, was to give a good lecture and grade my papers and tests in a timely fashion. In this particular case I observed that this was a history survey class with 300 people in it, and he couldn’t possibly get to know every student even if he wanted to. Nevertheless she remained piqued. I see now that her emotional well-being had been damaged by this professor!

Laura writes:

There should be laws requiring professors to take women seriously. Any woman not taken seriously should be compensated for the loss of well-being.

Mabel LeBeau writes:

The article cited contains a graph from 25 years of data at Higher Education Research Institute.

My interpretation of the article is based on my personal knowledge of college freshmen in my unique community in the mid-eastern cornfields and what the article seems to suggest: that high school seniors have considered themselves under considerably increasing levels of stress over the past 25 years, more so girls than the boys.

High levels of debt make the experience more stressful. There should be more acceptable alternatives to choose from in practical training. Personally, I think the main reason kids think they should go to college is a propaganda carrot that college graduates are the top wage-earners in the US, with the corollary that every one that is capable should go to college.

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