Why study when you could look at a nice sunset

It was a relief to hear Professor Freeman acknowledge how school focuses too much on making you think. That sounds bad at first because we’re here to learn, aren’t we? The greater point Professor Freeman was making, though, was that school focuses too much on knowledge about subjects using your intellect, and leaves the rest of life and the body from the chin down up to us to fumble through. It was no surprise to learn that nobody in my class had ever been given instructions on how to navigate personal boundaries, trauma, personal health, and relationships.

Once I thought about it, I realized that there would be a lot less drama in student’s personal lives if they had been given some sort of base-level education on how to approach the “human” parts of their lives. Maybe students would be less inclined to have unhealthy habits if they understood their own needs better. So, I knew what question I wanted to ask for this assignment: “Should college require classes on mental and physical health?”

Almost every person I asked was of the opinion that there should be required mental health classes, but physical health education should be optional. “Let’s say my roommate is suffering, one can identify and get him/her help,” my boyfriend (also a Temple student) explained; “Whereas physical health is optional since there is no precise definition for perfect or good or stable physical health.” Other friends I asked expressed basically identical sentiments. There were only two other slightly different responses.

“They shouldn’t be required because college students are adults,” my friend, Javan, expressed. His gut reaction was to assume that students being adults meant they should already know these things. I found this ironic given our discussion in class about the fact that nobody is actually explicitly taught these things, yet we are expected to have it figured out.

Another unique perspective was from my friend, Orion. “We should just give students extra credit for going to therapy. Going to a mental health class will probably leave you feeling like you need a therapist, so just skip that step and have the kids get their head shrunk individually for credit.”

I have to admit; that doesn’t sound half bad.