File this under "B", for "Boo Fucking Hoo"

[Barrister]

Read that op-ed and, hoo-boy. 

I had always fantasized about living in New York, but the first day I moved it was also my birthday. I felt really alienated and alone and didn't find the Columbia students very welcoming.

School just wasn't interesting to me anymore because I didn't have any close connections with my teachers.

I came from a small, tight-knit community at Thacher, and at ­Columbia I was lucky if a teacher talked to me. I'm a social learner and Columbia didn't provide me that opportunity.

So it's all the fault of the Columbia student body for not being welcoming enough, and the faculty's fault for not coddling her as a "social learner".

Doesn't seem like she feels responsible for any of it.

She's 19.  They rarely do at that age.

[dps]

I was on the undergraduate policy committee at the University of Arizona. We were dealing with a problem where something like 33% of all freshman at the U of A did not return for their sophomore year. Now *that* is a real problem that needs some systemic changes to address it. Either they are letting too many in, or not giving them enough support, or something is going on, and the University rightly wanted to figure out what that was, so we spent a lot of time interviewing freshman about their experience at the school in that first year.

Isn't that the norm, though?  I know that when I went through freshman orientation, we were told that about a third of us wouldn't still be at the school the next year.  I figure that's probably pretty much always been the norm, or close to it anyway.  Of course, not everyone who leaves drops out because they couldn't cut it--some people transferred to other schools or left for some other reason besides not being able to handle college (be that handling it either academically or emotionally).  Heck, my brother left after 3 semesters because he got a job offer that was better than anything he would have expected to get had he stayed to get his B.S.

[Berkut]

I was on the undergraduate policy committee at the University of Arizona. We were dealing with a problem where something like 33% of all freshman at the U of A did not return for their sophomore year. Now *that* is a real problem that needs some systemic changes to address it. Either they are letting too many in, or not giving them enough support, or something is going on, and the University rightly wanted to figure out what that was, so we spent a lot of time interviewing freshman about their experience at the school in that first year.

Isn't that the norm, though?  I know that when I went through freshman orientation, we were told that about a third of us wouldn't still be at the school the next year.  I figure that's probably pretty much always been the norm, or close to it anyway.  Of course, not everyone who leaves drops out because they couldn't cut it--some people transferred to other schools or left for some other reason besides not being able to handle college (be that handling it either academically or emotionally).  Heck, my brother left after 3 semesters because he got a job offer that was better than anything he would have expected to get had he stayed to get his B.S.

I think it depends. We had someone on the committee who was an ex-Stanford professor. Stanford has basically a near 100% retention rate.

That is probably too high for a large public school like Arizona. But they wanted something less than 1/3rd, but more than 0. Maybe 1/3rd isn't so bad for a large public university like Arizona, but it was considered high for a school that wanted to at least sell itself as a mid-upper tier academic institution.

[Razgovory]

It's weird people seem to think this is some sort of political act, or grand attention whoring meant to personally offend the people of Languish rather then just a kid with depression and anxiety.

[mongers]

It's weird people seem to think this is some sort of political act, or grand attention whoring meant to personally offend the people of Languish rather then just a kid with depression and anxiety.

Yes, but those people would fail at being Languish-like.

[The Larch]

This story seems quite weird, I don't know how much is not being told. The girl's reaction was strange and obviously not very considered to those around her, but if what it says about her background is true (raised by a single mom, sent to a boarding school, overachiever, would only communicate with her mother twice per month...) I can see how that girl would be stressed/bummed/burned out. Her environment doesn't exactly seem to be the most nurturing one, and once she started having trouble with her life I can easily understand that the situation would spiral into a bad place.

[DGuller]

Overachievers can be brittle.  Happens all the time.  Not sure this became a commentary on our society.

[11B4V]

Could it be the nobody loses mentality of today's lower schooling. I.e. K-12?

[DGuller]

Could it be the nobody loses mentality of today's lower schooling. I.e. K-12?

Doubt it.  That mentality affects the botton range, not the top range.

[jimmy olsen]

One particular young woman making a bad decision? That is no evidence of a problem at all.

It's clearly a problem for her. Potentially it's one where the best way to address may not be to tell her "suck it up, don't be stupid".

It may not be indicative of a systemic problem, that's true.

It is also one where the best way to address it may not be to tell her "You're right, those people at Columbia are assholes and the teachers should have been nicer to you! I understand why you needed to bail out like that. And you would be an AWESOME STRIPPER!!!!".

Who is advocating that someone should tell her that?

Was it in the news item, as I didn't read that, nor did I look at pictures of here, so perhaps there or possibly someone in this thread introduced the 'concept' to the discussion, this is Languish after all.

Fixed my post as apparently her mother said it.

Also, I'm not sure the girl is against the attention. After all, she did write the op-ed about herself.

http://nypost.com/2016/05/29/why-i-had-to-escape-my-ivy-league-life-and-disappear/

How much do people get paid for these articles I wonder? Depending on the offer, she may not have felt she could turn it down.

[CountDeMoney]

Well, thank god I never turned to you when I was depressed. Might have ended up in the morgue.

Now, now...you're not exactly Mr. Support Group Facilitator yourself. 

I'm pretty soft on the inside.

That's called the vaginal wall.

[11B4V]

Nice Av of the Shady Lady, Mr.  Free State of Jones.

[CountDeMoney]

Eat me, 11Donald.   

[11B4V]

Eat me, 11Donald.   

I will be unfriended again after this election cycle. FB trolling will be epic. If it comes down to The Donald and Shady Lady, Ill go for Shady.

[11B4V]

Dems= Big Govmint=Good for civil service.

Entered CS in 2006 with Bush
Obamanation for 8 years 2008-2016
Shady Lady for 8 years 2016- 2024
=18 years CS and on the glide slope to a second retirement.

Retire, go to Hempfest, get a medical pot card, and burn a big fat bowl.