It's 8 April 2020. We've known about the COVID-19 virus since January (see also The Lancet). Almost every college and university in the nation have closed the classrooms and students are now learning on-line or about to resume their courses, on-line. Students are anxious. Faculty are anxious. Families are anxious.
The headlines from the Houston Chronicle look like this:
In the community college, all these concerns are very valid. We should not look at any of these situations as dissimilar to so many people, even tens of thousands of other college students around the country right now. It's important to see our situation as representative of crisis. And, as a crisis, we look to each other, like a community should do, for our strengths. We look for our teammates; we look at our experiences; we look at the "rules" of the community as our foundation. We must turn to each other -- the foundation of every social contract -- and address our anxieties directly. Trying to avoid the anxieties make us weaker and more susceptible for future anxieties.
As community college students, we might have an advantage because we are often localized within our communities. Even with physical distancing, we have the advantages of technology to reach out to others and see the commonalities of shelter-at-home and the closures of the college. University students are often more alienated because they often do not belong to the city. Community colleges have the opportunity to see the ecology first-hand, share increased resources and knowledge, and look with their faculty for localized learning.
2020 will be a long year. Let's plan for it.
Next post = motivation when we lack motivation.
Part II
The headlines from the Houston Chronicle look like this:
And from today's New York Times, we're reading these:
These are big discussions and important discussions about our communities. Since the COVID-19 virus arrived to the U.S. most aware and responsible people have paid attention to our physical and emotional health. Some of us are concerned, anxious, and often confused. This is common and we should not feel that anxiety is different in crisis. In other words, the anxiety is universal and we should understand this universality.
I hope that as we see the universality, we can de-stress our own alienation and solitude of a quarantine: a) understand that our anxieties are common as being social beings and therefore that our anxiety is a human response; and b) is the opportunity for addressing our self-care.
In other words, when we experience a stressed situation, we have options to respond to that stimulus. We can either do nothing (see Seligman's learned helplessness ) or making choices to respond to the stimulus. This proactive response is common in sports, for example, athletes see their situation, their immediate anxiety, and then immediately turn to their resources (team mates, their own strengths, the rules of the game). In other words, the anxiety can be turned into a positive response and the positive response turns into strength. With increased strength, we are more prepared for additional challenges. This, of course, is not different than going to the gym: doing bench press is a stressor, but as long as we address the exercises, we get stronger.
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| Photo by Jannik Skorna on Unsplash |
Now, the situation here is more simple than just changing the body. Our new world is much more complex. As a community college professor, I have already heard from dozens of students with varied anxieties: financial, physical, emotional, academic, social, and more. Some of the anonymous concerns include:
- Being basically alone in my home is stressful.
- i just cant be up to date ….i always left behind
- i may not have access to internet in the future
- I am concern if we did not have writing tutor
- I'm mainly concerned that i will not be able to return to school next semester. As you may know i work for my family's restaurant and it has been shut down for the last week and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
- my home has no internet so my phone is the only option and i can not leave the house due to my parents worry about the virus
- My mom is going through some health issues and I am an only child and we two are in the household
- I’m really struggling to manage and balance my time
- Online courses are not really my thing
In the community college, all these concerns are very valid. We should not look at any of these situations as dissimilar to so many people, even tens of thousands of other college students around the country right now. It's important to see our situation as representative of crisis. And, as a crisis, we look to each other, like a community should do, for our strengths. We look for our teammates; we look at our experiences; we look at the "rules" of the community as our foundation. We must turn to each other -- the foundation of every social contract -- and address our anxieties directly. Trying to avoid the anxieties make us weaker and more susceptible for future anxieties.
As community college students, we might have an advantage because we are often localized within our communities. Even with physical distancing, we have the advantages of technology to reach out to others and see the commonalities of shelter-at-home and the closures of the college. University students are often more alienated because they often do not belong to the city. Community colleges have the opportunity to see the ecology first-hand, share increased resources and knowledge, and look with their faculty for localized learning.
2020 will be a long year. Let's plan for it.
Next post = motivation when we lack motivation.
Part II
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