Therapy dogs, chocolate, Play-Doh: Universities offer ways to cope with finals

[mjr]

https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/32492/

Really?

If college graduates need these kinds of things for "finals", we're screwed. We may as well hoist up that white flag, let it wave in the wind, and say, "We give up."

And what's gonna happen when these graduates get into the "real world"? The "real world" can often be (and is often) unforgiving.

[Teysa]

I agree with you about the real world being unforgiving. However, I see nothing wrong with finding healthier ways to deal with stress. Therapy dogs, are of course impractical for most people, but a can of Play-Doh is relatively inexpensive and I could certainly see where playing with it would be relaxing. And really, study breaks are nothing new. These schools are just making them more structured.

[Greenday]

So...you're complaining that schools offer stress relief options for their students? I don't get it.

[s_stabeler]

... all this is is an event where students can do something fun during the runup to finals. While the real world can be unforgiving, it's not so unforgiving (or shouldn't be) that there's literally no time to relax.

[mjr]

I agree with you about the real world being unforgiving. However, I see nothing wrong with finding healthier ways to deal with stress. Therapy dogs, are of course impractical for most people, but a can of Play-Doh is relatively inexpensive and I could certainly see where playing with it would be relaxing. And really, study breaks are nothing new. These schools are just making them more structured.

I dunno...wailing on a punching bag comes to mind.

Couldn't they (the students) come up with their own ways of dealing with stress? They're going to have to figure it out sooner or later anyway.

[mjr]

So...you're complaining that schools offer stress relief options for their students? I don't get it.

No, it's the type of stress release options.

And they're making it sound like these kids are extremely traumatized by having to take finals. There was a story recently of a college who just let all of their students NOT take finals...simply because Trump got elected. To me that's unreasonable. Death/illness in the family/Personal crisis? Sure.

"The guy you don't like got elected" is not a reason to cancel a test. Unless you REALLY want to stretch the definition of "tragedy".

[Greenday]

No, it's the type of stress release options.

And they're making it sound like these kids are extremely traumatized by having to take finals. There was a story recently of a college who just let all of their students NOT take finals...simply because Trump got elected. To me that's unreasonable. Death/illness in the family/Personal crisis? Sure.

"The guy you don't like got elected" is not a reason to cancel a test. Unless you REALLY want to stretch the definition of "tragedy".

What's wrong with chocolate and dogs? My school offered super short neck/shoulder massages during finals week.

Honestly, why do you care? These kids are paying tens of thousands of dollars to go there. God forbid the schools give them something back for it. When was the last time you took finals at the university level?

[Canarr]

While I do tend to agree that there seems to be a lot of coddling going on at modern universities, I don't think that offering stress release options for students going through finals is necessarily an example of that.

Stress related illnesses like burnout are on the rise among young people today, so doing something to remind them that work isn't everything is a good idea, IMO. Whether or not I agree with the methods involved, the basic idea is sensible. And quibbling about whether or not playdoh or Lego is the better stress relief is a bit smallminded, I think.

Let them have their stress relief; they'll need it.

[gremcint]

So a punching bag?
so you acknowledge that there is stress they need to relieve but it's only ok if they use methods you approve of?

someone playing with a little bit of playdough to relax themselves for a few minutes is terrible but going to the gym and punching something and being agressive is fine?

maybe not everyone wants to do that, maybe not everyone likes feeling that way, maybe people are different. And you know what speaking as someone who's been through a lot of school, Finals are terrifying on their own and you have no idea what's going on with that person's life.

The best solution though would be to restructure it so that the students didn't have 5 tests all worth 40% of their marks within a 2 week span.

it's never just finals they have to deal with. They have a hole life to deal with on top of school. Full time school can easily eat up 40+ hours a week and this is something you pay for not get paid for so there's usually jobs not to mention family drama or relationship drama they have to deal with as well. I mean suddenly the world expects you to be an adult but they won't let highschool train you how, hell they won't even teach you how to put a condom on these days without a riot.

So yeah maybe some small concessions to help students cope in their own way is for the best. Schools should be a safe space to learn both about the subject and about who you are.