Are Your Students Having Fun?

[Wahoo Redux]

I realize that this is an odd, maybe even inappropriate topic during these turbulent times, but I was just curious if your students seemed to be having fun at college.

When I made my first pass at college as an undergrad back in the '80s college was generally known for its "animal house" ethos.  Of course, this was partly cosmetic as there were plenty of hard-working college students----but still, in vernacular culture college was known for its "partying."  It was just part of the "college experience."  And it was fun, even (or particularly) for a screw-up like me.  At some point someone even put together a "best party schools" rankings (the '90s?) as a counterbalance to the Newsweek rankings.

Kids today just do not seem to have fun in college.  My impression may be dampened by the places I've taught, including a tiny Div III in the upper Midwest where many of the students in our small town drove back to their parents' farms on the weekends, or the largely commuter school we now stumble to every morning in a suburban slum in the Rust Belt.

It just seemed to me that something has changed in the atmosphere.  War on drugs?  AIDS?  9/11?  Massive student debt?  Let's go Brandon?   I was just wondering what other people thought.

[marshwiggle]

• Good students (i.e. those who chose to go there to learn) have always worked their butts off.
• Box-checkers (i.e. those who go there because someone told them to) have always partied their butts off.

If there has been a shift, it's that as there is increasing pressure on everyone to go on to PSE, regardless of whether they know why, there are  an increasing number in between the groups above who realize they have to put in some effort, but don't have a clear idea of where their effort should go.  That group (and its anxiety) will create a bigger part of the picture than in the past.

[Puget]

Selective private R1-- Our students tend to be high achievers who put a lot of pressure on themselves. Many want to go to grad or med school, so they take their studies seriously. Are they having fun? I hope so, but generally not of the hard partying type. I suspect that was only ever a minority of students most places anyway.

[Parasaurolophus]

I don't think ours are having all that much fun. We're a commuter "university", and that means that there's not much of a campus culture for them to partake in. So, unless their classes are fun, I suspect that their feelings about us are rather more utilitarian.

[Kron3007]

Our students seem to be having fun.  We have a few core programs our university is known for and they have a lot of pub nights and clubs that arrange various tours.  I  run a field course that caters mostly to one of these groups, and they seem to have a very active social program and are having a great time.

Covid has obviously put a damper on things, but it seems they are ramping back and have made the best of things. 

[Hegemony]

Ours are partying hearty.

[downer]

Most of my students have jobs. Many have active family lives -- and are living at home. Some are parents and have kids. Some are very serious about their student work. I expect they get some time to relax and party occasionally but not a whole lot.

When I was a student I had no job. I hardly ever saw my family either.  I lived economically on a student grant. I was quite serious too -- lots of reading and working, but a fair amount of socializing. I was in the library quite often. No TV, no phone, no computers, not even a typewriter. I lived on campus for half of my years as a student. My life then was easier than my students' lives are now.

[Mobius]

Campus life is dead on weekends and it was like this before the pandemic. Football games don't keep anyone around. I also think this generation has a tougher time coming up with fun things to do since they are stuck on their phones. Didn't have a phone or my own computer when I started college. A few in the dorms had an SNES or Genesis. We often had tournaments of some sort when we didn't go out.

Get off my lawn screed over.

[mamselle]

I can speak to three or four different cadres of students.

1) At present, I think my private music students (adults, college-age, and kids) are having a good time. I pray that they and I both enjoy their lessons each day, and I at least usually leave them feeling as if that has happened (just had another good one today).

The adults (one of whom works in a nearby university) has dealt with two special-needs kids in lockdown for the past year-and-a-quarter, while working from home (and having upheavals in her job that made the news at one point), and she's amazingly rock-solid--she reports the (R1) students she's in touch with just put their heads down and work, and if they party, they don't let it interfere with their school- and remunerative-work.

2) In the past, adjuncting in French I, most recently a few years ago (2 before-Covid, I think) I'd say about 2/3 enjoyed the class, and said so. A couple of others were barely there and I worried there were drugs or something similar involved, but we never did crack that (I and the dept. chair with whom I spoke a couple times). I was in touch with a couple colleagues there but they've moved on, so I don't get the <<on dit>> from them as I used to.

3) Earlier, several years before that, I was either substituting in the local public schools, both elementary and secondary, or adjuncting in Art History. In the former case, I mostly enjoyed the classes and had the sense that the kidlets did as well; in a few cases we had some outstanding moments and I heard back that it was a reciprocated feeling. (I've tutored one kid and heard back from others that last year's school work went on and wasn't too badly interrupted... by observation, of kids I'm now teaching, being online was fine, going back was fine. Not much seems to bug them, they're pretty solid.)

In the latter case, I was likewise hearing back from students who enjoyed being challenged, that they appreciated me taking them at face value and working to improve their strengths and address areas where they were lacking. I was also hearing from a few less positive people that the classes were too hard, I expected too much, etc....pretty much the standard distribution in all cases, I suspect. As long as I was being hired back, I figured it was fine.

In the schools I was adjuncting in (three different ones, some at the same time, some not) I'd say the students were a wide blend of serious--to--average--to--party/party.

4) Right now, I'd say (from three others--a parent and two colleagues--who work in similar positions in my area, at two other different schools) it sounds as if people are stressed in some cases, doing fine in others, and coping with the online stuff well if they're nerdy (many are) and less well if they're not (a few fall in that category).

A very few are apparently struggling despite their usual glee in nerdy (i.e., online, around-the-globe) connections due to their need for more personal contact, or their workload overall.

So, I'd say it's a mix, most seem to be doing OK, a few have difficulties.

Given omicron, and the (I think) strong probability that more locking-down is coming, we may see another resurgence of struggling and less (permitted) partying again.

But my state is more sane about some of these things than others, and most people seem more inclined to appreciate that and abide by the strictures, so   it's a bit of a different ball game...except where it isn't.

M.