November 18, 2004

• Day #11
  A thought-provoking article, and a wonderful day in Whistler

  
  

  Work hard, play hard, die young

  
  

  By Roman Goldstein

  
  

  Published: Monday, November 15, 2004

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

  Media Credit: Yu Araki

  
  

  “There is a certain work hard, play hard mentality-it may not always be a good mentality,” said Alpha Epsilon Phi president Sara Kaufman about Greek life.
  
  I go further: work hard, play hard is always a destructive mentality. And it’s unfortunately prevalent throughout campus.
  
  Here’s how I see the equation: academic stress and competitiveness (“work hard”) lead to unhealthy efforts to diffuse the stress, often via alcohol and drugs (“play hard”). Alcohol and drug abuse are inherently unhealthy, resulting in deaths from alcohol poisoning or drug overdose (“die young”).
  
  Additionally, the stress caused by “work hard” leads to depression in students; “play hard” masks the severity of stress and depression, making it harder to intervene on students’ behalf before they commit suicide (“die young”). Furthermore, alcohol abuse directly contributes to suicide, according to a November article in the psychiatric newspaper CNS News.
  
  Denton et al. (2003) reported a profound increase in stress from academic pressure from 1988 to 2000. Nine percent of students reported academic distress in 1988, while a whopping 35 percent reported academic distress in 2000. Reports of distress from depression nearly doubled, to 41 percent. The National Mental Health Association says 10 percent of college students have been diagnosed with depression; many more students are probably undiagnosed.
  
  The “play hard” part of the equation masks depressive symptoms, unfortunately. Loss of quality sleep? Chalk it up to the hangover. Not feeling like going out? Nothing a few shots can’t cure. Anxiety? A glass of wine will fix that. It is almost impossible, when everyone is playing hard, to notice a depressed friend self-medicating.
  
  Now, depression wouldn’t be as big of a problem if it weren’t one of the major risk factors for suicide. And suicide is the second most common cause of death among college students, claiming 7.5 of every 100,000 lives, according to the Jed Foundation, a college mental health group. Denton also found that suicide attempts have more than doubled since 1988 among college students.
  
  To keep students from dying young, we can get rid of “play hard,” so that mental health professionals can treat the problems and so we can avoid alcohol poisonings. Or, we can get rid of the root problem, “work hard,” that causes this stress in the first place.
  
  Dr. Alan Glass, director of Student Health and Counseling Services, agreed in a press release that depression is the largest health problem facing college students, and that academic stress is a key part of the problem. But his solution, an increase in the availability of mental health resources on campus, treats the symptoms rather than the core problem.

  
  

  The administration overall also seems to think “play hard” is the problem, as evidenced by their Greek alcohol moratorium and their reduction of alcohol across campus in recent years.
  
  Again, “play hard” is merely a symptom of an underlying problem: “work hard.” Getting rid of “play hard” means curing “work hard” first. So while I certainly support increasing mental health awareness and resources on campus, the ultimate solution is going to have to address concerns of academic stress caused by the University.
  
  For starters, it can reduce students’ workload by cutting the standard schedule from 15 credits to 12. Arts and Sciences can reduce Dean’s List requirements to allow students taking 12 credits to earn this distinction. And it can eliminate intra-student competitiveness by eliminating curved grading.
  
  It could also take a cue from peer institutions, and make the first semester or two of college strictly pass/fail. The first year is already a period of high stress given the transition to college life, and worrying about GPA is one more stressor students don’t need.
  
  Saving students from intubations or the morgue will require much, much more than cracking down on “play hard.”

  
  

  I’m glad I saw this article for a few reasons.  First of all, it highlights the biggest problem of higher education in America today.  It is quite literally working kids too hard, making them depressed, suicidal, or at the very least, unhappy about life.  This, my friends, is the #1 problem, and as we choose to recognize the problem, we will have to confront the root of the problem that Roman noted in his article, the concern of “academic stress caused by the university.”

  
  

  My entire purpose in life right now is to reduce that academic stress.  I recently proposed an education forum at Wash U (i opted to relax here in whislter instead, which i needed and am enjoying thouroughly), i sent an e-mail to Roman and the rest of the Wash U. newspaper about my ideas for Wash U.  One such idea, “cutting the number of credits from 15 to 12 to lighten student workload.”  I don’t know if Roman read my e-mail…but oddly enough, my last 2 articles were not published, and my last e-mails to Roman were not responded to.  Perhaps a conspiracy to cut me out of publication…while my ideas still find their way into print in other people’s words?  (I’m just having some fun here).  Well…i’ve e-mailed him one more time about writing weekly for Stud Life.  If they’re serious about change, they should want a person like me in the paper weekly, reminding people that change requires action, and change requires pissing people off enough to take action.

  
  

  While Wash U. will probably continue down a negative slope, I am hoping to bring the larger issue of the damage done by college on both the mental health of students, as well as the intellectual health whereby students aren’t really learning anything, which is bad for democracy (we need less ignorant people, not more) as well as for the future health of these students after college, to the attention of the AACU.  I’m more optimistic about the AACU speaking out about the need for real change, than any political party, because we’re dealing w/ students, and the AACU is concerned about students.

  
  

  Anyways…i enjoyed a day of none-education thinking.  Went on a beautiful hike, by the snowy Whistler and Blackcomb mountains which open for skiing this weekend.  Talked about life w/ my friends, about travel, jobs, money, homes, friends, family…basically, everything.  Everyone is struggling to understand life, and while education and politics continues to ignore it, I’m glad to have friends who i can talk about it to.

  
  

  oh…and went to a pottery class last night, what fun!!!

  
  

   

  • 1:30 am
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