There was a time in my life when i was a student. Most of the time I was a good student. I was engaged in my classes, had good attendance, kept up with class work and kept a good rapport with my professors and the other students. But this never lasts for me. After a couple semesters, I start to crack. I miss classes. I miss assignments. I'm not engaged when I'm in class. This is due to my mental health issues. When this happens I'm unable to cope. My executive functioning goes to zero and even thinking about an email to my professor is too much. There have been two semesters when I was unable to get help in time and had to email the professors to let them know what happened to me after the fact. I got one of three responses from them: 1. No response. 2. Sarcasm, dismissiveness, insulting comments insinuating I'm just lazy 3. Compassion (even if they were unable to help) Now I have friends who are professors. They share a lot about the emails they get from students: excuses why their grade is bad or why they can't turn things in. I understand that not everybody is going to be like me. There will be people who try to take advantage and lie about circumstances in order to get a pass. And I'm not suggesting that every professor has to go to bat for every student and bend over backwards for every excuse no matter how tenuous it sounds. I am, however, suggesting that you respond with compassion or not at all. Compassion doesnt mean giving into demands. It can be as simple as pointing out on campus resources and telling the student you hope they can get help. It can be something like "I'm sorry you're going through this, but my hands are tied. If you have documentation you might be able to get help from the dean or an advisor". None of those things will lead students who are trying to take advantage to believe that they can walk all over you. But responding with insults or insinuating they were just lazy WILL tell students like me that we don't belong and can't get help. It will tell students like me that our anxiety about speaking with the professor was correct, and it will make it even harder for us to seek help the next time we need it. I don't think I can ever go back to school, but I'd like to hope that it can get better and others like me would be able to get the education they want/need/deserve without everyone they meet during a mental health spiral assuming they are just lazy or incompetent or inconsiderate.
Dirty Nerdy
