Growing Crisis of Higher Education & Mental Health

American Higher Education Industry has been hit by the Perfect Storm

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Demographic and Sociological changes that have plunged enrollment

Soaring costs that totally up-ended the positive benefit ROI Trajectory

Employment trends in the definition of work and the workplace

Marketing and Branding Crisis as colleges stray from academics into advocacy

Deepening Mental Health trends of GEN-Z ?

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…..as I round the dumbbell rack….to pick up two thirty pounders at our local community center

…. which is a wonderfully run facility that brings all ages together

It is a place of such vision that creates an exponential amount of social capital and health for the community

….I hear a conversation initiated between five college age young men

Anybody that knows me

….I mind my business, focus on the task and have an total absence of interest in what others are doing.

In the unstable world of 2024 America this Zen is the prescription for Balance Wellness --- avoiding the reactive society’s bad karma influences

Yet …the conversation is just so extraordinary as these five young men engage in a sincere -sharing exchange about why they left college to come back home to Small Town America

….their episodes of depression – habitual anxiety -looming fears of life and the future…..feelings of poor self-worth/esteem ….despair

The entire exchange is such a Aha Moment …to be perfectly honest with you …..shocking!

….more importantly..... deeply saddening

?..as they collectively share I silently invoke a prayer to the Divine Spirit to descending and create the opportunity for healing

…my initial impression is…..how has this entire system been turned on its head?

Always the curious student …I read several well written articles on the subject and then ask around my circles to objectify my research observations.

…I run into a huge supporter of mine in the grocery store that tells me that about only fifteen percent of this year’s class is going to college

By chance or by divine direction I get into my car and on NPR there is a round table discussion on the exact subject …the experts on the panel filled in all the gaps for me…..strong insightful vision

As always, I bounce everything off my children who are the product of uber educational investment fused within the cultural wrappings of our tribe….they are the bridge from “Robert World” into the present

They confirm the indifferentiable personas of young men who to these Alpha Females whose empowered efficacy finds them as disappointing, effeminate …lacking in so many dimensions…..very unwell individuals

Well –Okay !! ..so much for empathy ?

The stats I read in the WSJ article are compelling

….more than 2/3 of parents do not see Post Secondary Education as Important

…..only about 1/3 of college bound students intent to apply

…the poor ROI on College Tuition Investment as the cost -income ratio benefit has steadily declined. Whereas in the past… College was a social elevator of advancement in which graduates earned substantial more than non-college and whose net worth was 200-300% higher.

This is the model I’m most familiar with and benefited from …a soaring ride upward from working class poverty to comfortable earned privilege

It is also the vehicle that my family's foundation created for two generations of local students

….using my nuclear rolodex, gaining admissions, finding tens of millions in scholarships and grants along with strategic academic management that produced a large cohort of individuals that followed my road from poverty to becoming professional …affluent ….

They are the pride of our community –their accomplishments are so well done!

I have no idea how many souls I might have saved in my ministry but surely, as mentor/coach I've made lots and lots of people wealthy

…the picture of their smiling families on FB warms my heart everyday…these collections of individuals are one of the greatest joys of my life

Yet the conditions today to accomplish this no longer exist…this window of opportunity has been closed…

Why ??

On this journey I’ve met so many talented people in Higher Education

…selfless, focused and objective in pushing their students to excellence but more importantly to become Independent Critical Thinkers

For quite a few years I taught as an Adjunct Prof …Critical Thinking ?from which I developed many of the theories and written about in a dozen books

All of this Collective Intelligence in Higher Education has been replaced by displaced WOKE Advocacy in which this Meritocracy more than the examination and debate foundation of scholarship/ professional development has been mislabeled as Oppression and Disadvantaged Unfairness

So we find ourselves Collectively Deeply Conflicted ..which to anyone that knows anything about education is the worse possible thing you can do if you are creating the environment for Critical Thinking/ Independent Thought/ Self-Improvement

No wonder these young men are crushed as the rules of the game are in flux

…changing

…which if you are investing a sultan’s wage and you are unsure of its outcome…would leave anyone awake at night wondering about their future ?

Upon further research ….these universities are different landscapes of which I was ?accustomed to….

They are toxic, restrictive, intimidating and unhealthy

More than just education….college is a place of “formation” which is a punch list of Teaching, Learning, Training Skills that forge Habits....that become Mindset….Lifestyles and your future Operative Culture

Replicative Emulation……you need Positive Models and Experiences to do this

No wonder these young men are crush when the affirmational role models so essential at this critical life junction are not consistently there

I remember what one of my students who graduated dead last in his high school class would say to me all the time

….”I know if I need you …you’d come in a minute”

Yes, we did .... and this attention to task made him an excellent senior executive

Well …this student today lives in his 1M USD condo, mid six figure salary …very lovely wife and beautiful children

So is the crisis in Higher Education much more a reflection of American Society and the leadership class’s stewardship and poor attention to their responsibilities?

The comprehensive dysfunction that created this perfect storm starts at the top and unfortunately until that leadership reimagines their role and that of Higher Education no amount of money will be able to reverse this downward spiral.

Back at the Community Center

…. I bumped into a long-time Legislative friend and was introduced to his wife

She is a social worker and is developing a “Resilience Curriculum” to be used at the high school level to develop a New Toolbox of skills, strategies and solutions to make students more self-reliant and better able to advance in the toxic environment that Higher Education has created for them

This is the creative remedy that is a step in the right direction as like most things in our current American Society we can no longer expect trickle down leadership from the top but innovative trickle up energy from the bottom

As I partner with her efforts here

…..so much for me to learn and consider ?

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