How Can We Solve the College Student Mental Health Crisis? | Dr. Tim Bono | TEDxWUSTL

Professor Tim Bono's talk delves into the mental health and psychology of students, specifically how unrealistic expectations can skew the formula for happiness. Professor Tim Bono earned his undergraduate and graduate degree in psychology at WashU, and is now a professor teaching positive psychology. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@astridrentel2074]

It is the expectation. You expected to have “the college experience” where your studying with friends, going to lectures, having coffee with friends and feeling independent. When in reality, or for a number of students, we’re constantly alone and need to worry on studying for the next midterm or final that we procrastinated on bc we thought we had more time. You expect one thing but got another (which can be marks or something else) which fuels worry or even FOMO of what you “should” be experiencing which could then spiral into feeling overwhelmed or anxiety.

[@boiledhardegg253]

You worded this perfectly.

[@macadamia668]

Colleges: "We need to address the growing mental health concerns of our students" Also Colleges: Continues that mental health crisis with unrealistic and unforeseen curriculums. And gaslights students thinking its "all in their head".

[@Kyser09]

It's not just students fresh out of high school who become part of the mental health crisis. I decided to go to college again at 28, transferred from community college to university, I had low expectations going into university and still deal with the stress and anxiety. For me, I'm affected because of debt, a bleak pay-off after the education, and social isolation at the school. I actually found this video because this is a topic I want to talk about for a project for a class. The project is to innovate a way to solve a problem we are passionate about. If anyone has ideas please chime in.

[@adamell_]

He has it wrong. It's not the students' expectations of college; it's the college's expectations of students.

[@bbmoette]

How so? I don’t think so. Colleges expect u to pay, attend, and complete your program- this should be no surprise to students. Did you hear the presentation? It is true that the college experience is hyped up A LOT! Most Definitely he is on to something.

[@ennaox7641]

​@@bbmoette i agree with you, but also some programmes are extremely difficult in terms of workload and expect students to be able to study that amount while also managing in life, especially when studying abroad and living by yourself.

[@soyaliovee]

@@ennaox7641 that’s also an expectation for jobs

[@eli-greyz1068]

@@soyaliovee It completely isn't. As someone who has worked a job before going to university they are entirely unrelated experiences. The main being that your job ends, it stops at 5pm or whenever it does and then you have time to do what you want to do and look after yourself. Where as at university, you have a full day and then come home and work. A lot of degrees are incredibly fast paced and at the same time have poor teaching quality and expect work hours that mean you don't get that time where work stops and life begins. This being obviously due to the less teaching time, the more money the university makes, leading to fast and cramped terms. On top of that, many many university students are constantly ill with colds and viruses due to the set up of university and inevitably get behind with little to no way to catch back up, if you're lucky enough not to be sick for a couple of weeks. At the end of the day, the main thing the lecturers and the university care about is their business, their research and they put little effort into actually teaching us, which makes the whole situation worse still. I've had lecturers tell me exactly this. My whole first year of university was online, not because of Covid, as it was after this, but because they couldn't afford to and didn't have enough rooms to teach us in person (Because the department bought a new, fancy research machine.) There is a clear feeling from every student, that there is a distinct lack of care. And I disagree with this presenter, to say the issue is the students' expectations is a trivial description of the issue. I think what really makes the situation so obvious to me, is that so many students are going to university with A*A*A* from Alevel and not succeeding at university. That is undoubtably a hard working student. So the education system must be failing them, through lack of preparation for university and very poor teaching at university.

[@leonardomachado3118]

In my opinion, you have to think that you'll be great, you'll have to face adversities but the way that you face the challenges can change everything. Of course, if you suffer from depression if your situation is bad and you feel that can't do anything you should ask for help and never forget that God is with you, then, always pray to God.

[@VeryIntellijent]

Modern higher education is simply not fit for purpose. Most people strive to get a degree to try and improve their job prospects in the absence of better pathways. But what they are learning is oftentimes not relevant for their careers, or at the very least, it's a very inefficient way to progress. To make matters worse, all of the students know full well that employers care very little about the degrees. It's just a box to be ticked. The disconnect between education and the workforce is a strain that students are mostly responsible for bridging, and it's not easy. Very few people in this world are wired to spend so long reading about things yet spending so little time actually doing them. As an engineering student, I see little value in most of what I am told to learn and assessed on. 90% of what I learn I will never use. Common arguments against that are "But how do you know you won't need it?" or "College is for learning to learn". The reality is that it's a horrifically inefficient way to do either of those things. We can all learn to learn whilst learning things that are actually useful and productive. Imagine going to the gym, and spending your first 3 years learning the theory about how each piece of equipment works. Then you might occasionally get to practice with some pretend-weights, where the pretend-weight experts can critique your form and strength. Then after you prove yourself on the pretend-weights, and have sufficiently flexed your extensive theoretical knowledge of the equipment, you are finally allowed to use the equipment in the gym. It's a horrifically inefficient and ineffective way to learn. If you go to college purely because you want to learn about something out of passion, then your head must resemble a Krispy Kreme. We all have the biggest library in the history of humanity at our fingertips. Why would you limit your learning about a passion to a rigid curriculum that every other student on that course is also learning about in the same way? Apprenticeships were the way, particularly in the west, and we had the golden opportunity for them with our workforce age demographics, but we screwed it up.

[@Vortex__24]

PREACH

[@nanadee5196]

Just on point and whoever create school never use one.And it only in school they determine one is smarter than the other when intelligence is immeasurable among people.

[@zaireenalexiapedres2398]

I'm suffering loneliness intrusive thoughts and social anxiety at school and cptsd

[@Vortex__24]

Stay in there, you will get through this

[@ieatpineapples3325]

I’m right there with ya :( We will get through this❤️❤️

[@atreyashetty7215]

If u dont hv time to watch the video....the whole message of the vid is hv REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

[@Irhs_03]

Just seeing through the comments ,I have realised everyone has a different opinion and what one accepts needn't be accepted by another.

[@justinhammon4750]

The problem isn't so much unrealistic expectations as much as it it that education is now more about getting as much money as possible rather than giving a quality education. This is why all those colleges admission presentations and campus tours kept getting loftier and loftier. They say "look how great it is". They mean "give us your money" Edit: it's further perpetuated by a society that prioritizes money. Half the kids in college aren't there for education or progressing the human condition. They're there because they want nice things and nice things require money. Now college is saturated with people who don't really want to be there but simply are because they fear the alternative (being poor and "WoRkInG aT mCdOnAlDs")

[@oldschoolwaverider]

I agree with you. However it’s kinda ironic because today McDonald’s pays (I’m in the UK) £12 per hour. A qualified nurse at Band 5 is not paid much more in their first few years and it’s probably far more difficult with more responsibilities.

[@klxnproductions9813]

Hard to take this for any value when not one mention of finances was brought up. Why are college students stressed ? Take a quick look at tuition rates and average salaries. If you can't afford to make the money a PHD would you get you, they'll make sure that once you got it, you're no better off them when you started.

[@candidapm2474]

Many students (and parents) expect that college will only teach what is required to get a certain job or get into a certain professional school. Most college curriculums are geared towards providing a well-rounded education and experience and to teach the student how to think and learn. A lot of students consider that a waste of time (which causes a lot of stress) becuae it is irrelevant to their future career. They don't know (or expect) what most colleges are delivering. Add in they often feel alone and lonely, have to deal with new people, are no longer one of the best in the school, have to work to earn grades, and face difficulties in many areas and it creates an environment that can often lead to mental health issues.

[@SamuelLee-gw6wr]

My university is notorious for heavy workload. I once finished an assignment in a 40 minute train ride.

[@cccaaa702]

If you want nothing then is that dividing what you have by zero? :O

[@Jade-ku2vz]

My depression is cured...

[@learnmathwithprivilege]

depression is real

[@zaireenalexiapedres2398]

Yeah depression is real

[@mohammedal-swidi4459]

I'm the first one who have seen this video 😁

[@atreyashetty7215]

Congrats

[@basyarokitansky2644]

Yeah, sure, it's all the students fault. Blame them hard, offence is best defence. What a convenient "psychologist".

[@bbmoette]

Is that what you heard? He actually said that the college was contradicting itself and suggested students (and all of us in various times in life) have more realistic expectations and not buy into the hype so much- think for ourselves. He is making good points without blaming.

[@cccaaa702]

Man, I'm early