Professors, Administrators Have a Role to Play in Helping Students

Every student group, every professional group, every age cohort has its different joys and sorrows. College students perhaps have a particularly difficult time. Whether they are living at home near their college or a distance away in a dorm or other college town place, they are no longer just at home as when they were younger. They can feel liberated, they can feel lonely, they have to associate with people perhaps quite different from them socially, economically, racially, ethnically, and so on.  Some make new friends easily, some with difficulty, some not at all. They often need help and encouragement. They also have studies which demand more than high school did. They are then a special breed!

Colleges should provide help in many ways but the leaders and teachers in the colleges should  be encouraged to lend their assistance. Many professors are more interested in their academic advancement or their research. The college administration should try to get their meaningful involvement in the non-academic concerns of students as well as their classroom work. It should not be the job only of therapists and other helping professionals.