After 14 student deaths, North Carolina State confronts a national crisis

While I am unaware of student suicides or deaths from any other causes on my campus, the point this article makes about a student mental health crisis hits home hard for me, especially now that the semester is ending. Almost 30 students, more than one full section’s worth of a composition class, have dropped my classes this semester, overwhelmingly because of some situation in their lives that prevented them from being able, emotionally and/or psychologically, to focus on the work they need to do. The most difficult part from my point of view is how many did not come talk to me because they didn’t want to be “that student” who was constantly making excuses. I know the difference between “that student” and the students I am talking about very well, and they do not deserve to have that image of themselves. There is a big difference, I tell them, between an excuse and an explanation, and that, if the explanation means they have to prioritize their lives over school, that is not a failure. It is, at minimum the responsible decision to make and it might also be an important component of their future academic success, since taking care of themselves and their lives is what will make that future possible. That is a message too few of them have ever heard.