Hope for current generation

Optimism among citizens in the U.S.A. and around the world is cyclical and it is often a response to significant disruption of the world we believe, or hope, we live in. Today's college students are encountering a world recovering from a recession, dealing with the lingering impact of a pandemic, and coping with governance that seems to be failing in many ways. The Marist College "Mindset List" includes experiences that were common to the childhood experiences of those now entering college.

Some young adults are pursuing alternatives to higher education because they've lost faith in the return on value of pursuing a college degree. For those who still aspire to acquire a degree the question is, how should educators respond. Some pundits say that the super-power of higher education in the U.S.A. is fading. A variety of factors contribute to this decline including controlling costs, increasing return on investment, promoting access but not preference, and protecting academic freedom and free speech.

Decades of research has documented how college transforms students. In this essay, Steve Mintz advises that the transformation is significant enough that American society is now divided between the college educated and those who are not. The difference in their views range from those who embrace nationalism, isolationism, and a hunkered down way of life to those who are more cosmopolitan, worldly, and sophisticated. Mintz adds, "A college education does indeed fuel this country's cultural divide... Colleges and universities must remain true to their guiding star, which is to subject all ideas to analysis and critique and to remain society's arena for unfettered discussion, deliberation and debate." One hundred former college and university presidents formed the Champions of Higher Education group to counter the negative narrative coming from conservative critics of higher education and to "reclaim the public trust in America's colleges and universities."

Sian Beilock suggests that a critical responsibility of educational institutions is to cultivate hope. I heartily agree and have made this point in numerous publications over the decades of my career. Deeper Learning in Leadership and Cultivating Students' Capacity for International Leadership are two examples. Courses that purport to help students pursue a meaningful and joyful life are now offered at Yale and Stanford and include texts purpose-designed to encourage the exploration of conviction in living. Steve Mintz proposes that the four most critical outcomes of such courses/texts should be; aesthetic sensitivity, contextualization, interpretation, and critical thinking. Analysis of "Good Life" courses at 14 colleges and universities identified five common processes utilized to help students cultivate hope: setting new goals, rediscovering faith and familial roots, redefining relationships with leisure and technology, building new friendships, and accepting uncertainty and failure. The ultimate point of these books and and course initiatives seems to be to cultivate hope in the modern day, one that includes striving for a better future through meaningful employment as well as preparing graduates to be engaged and constructive citizens.

In many ways hope comes very naturally, especially among young people. A natural part of striving is to visualize a better way for oneself and for others. "Dreamstorming" is a new word and concept advocated in sexual assault prevention but could be applied to other questions where new ways of thinking and approaching a topic are needed Anticipating that not everything will be ideal when students begin their college educations is an important balance to constructive optimism. For example, a simple 30 minute reflective activity acknowledging the challenges of finding a place to belong on campus resulted in improved retention in a Stanford University study of 26,911 students. Clearly, there are easier and tougher times and it is the responsibility of educators to portray the world authentically, with all its good and bad points. Reports that current college and university students exhibit greater anxiety and depression is an ominous indicator that coping ability has declined. However, some counselors believe that the increasing proportion and numbers are driven by some of the stresses and anxieties of youth being labeled as psychological trauma. Regardless of the causes, higher education needs to respond to students' mental health needs while bolstering conditions of the learning environment that help build resilience within a realistic worldview that includes facing challenges. Students' awareness of services should be a priority so that students can get help when they need it plus it leads to a greater sense of belonging.

Research on measuring and promoting "thriving" among students identified academic determination, engaged learning, diverse citizenship, social connections, and positive perspective as critical to students' success. When these characteristics are present, sense of community is enhanced and hope derived from engagement on campus and the broader community becomes a source of learning. The Illinois Tech ELEVATE platform helps students find experiential opportunities aligned with their learning goals. Students want both broad learning in an area where they have passionate interest and practical preparation for life after college and expect at least some help from faculty and career centers in achieving their goals.

Faculty can be a helpful resources to students but boundaries for the type of support they can offer need to be clear and should encourage "emotional professionalism." Students can occasionally exhibit a dysfunctional infatuation with faculty. The issue is that, as students work out young adult questions of dependence and independence they can sometimes become fixated on an adult figure in ways that continue or counter their relationship with parents. "...professors need to become more sensitive to other aspects of classroom dynamics, above all, issues of power and authority" in order to avoid becoming inappropriately enmeshed. The power imbalance between a faculty member (or student affairs educator) can result in misunderstanding or deliberate violation of educational and personal space.

The relationship between students and professors varies based on the pedagogy of a classroom, the discipline, and to specific demographic and life experiences students bring with them. Finding ways to encourage helpful encounters includes 1) making clear that the worth and dignity of students is separate from their grade performance, and 2) reducing high-stakes student experiences that could be racist, classist, or sexist. A variety of strategies are being used to address mental health needs. Some include enhanced training for faculty and student peer helpers. With the number of counselors available for hire insufficient to meet demand, creativity in providing alternatives is essential.

Critical theory can be a tool to more effectively address both challenging and promising aspects of contemporary life. Seeing the world through critical lenses can help students regain a sense of control, perhaps most importantly for those whose lives have been impacted an array of trauma. As Beilock indicates, "For the past three years, we've learned in a tragically visceral way the despair of losing hope. But if our colleges and schools can find a way to pair education with action, to nurture young people's resilience and to find common ground, we can do much to help them find it again." Cognitive behavioral therapy is similar to critical theory in activating a clearer understanding of reality to correct misperceived threat or dysfunction. The use of critical theory and cognitive behavioral therapy in teaching offer frameworks for understanding the reality of the world around us.

Bridging the generational gap between current faculty and students requires being attentive to student anxieties, creating inclusive classrooms, and recognizing the presence of the gap and talking directly about it. Responding to the need of creating an inclusive community and foster hope, Belmont University hired is first Vice President for Hope, Unity, and Belonging. This is a fascinating combination of community building coupled with hope. The Belmont model would likely have been applauded by the visionaries who conceived of student personnel work (1937) as a combination of recognizing the worth and dignity of all students, fostering holistic learning, encouraging students to develop to their full potential, and learning and development taking place throughout students' encounters, both in and out of class.