Frustration with higher education

 Why are higher educators so concerned about power and “safety?” Why not risk? Risk is a necessary part of life. Everything is a risk. Getting in a car is a risk. Getting out of bed is a risk. Everything is a risk. How far are we going to take this?  Good grief. 

I'm sitting through talks about "trauma-informed pedagogy." A new thing. Has no generation ever had trauma before?

However, students who have lost family and friends to COVID, or who lost jobs for several months, should be reached. Those who had the sniffles for a few days, that's not trauma.  

My rhetorical style is to write something pretty forthright and controversial, and then back off, then reiterate a softened first point. That's what I'm doing here. COVID is controversial, and even more so our responses to it. Did we overdo? Who can know? The virus is so unpredictable in its effects. Most were just inconvenienced, more by the quarantine than by the disease features. Others suffered greatly, as did their families. 900,000 plus is not a small number, even if COVID was the last straw that pushed already very sick folks over the edge.

When I think of all the elderly and very sick who died alone in nursing homes and hospitals, I am undone emotionally. As hard as it was to watch my mother die, the very least I can say is I was there with her, in her home, and the end, talking to her, telling her I loved her, we loved her. I know of families that could not be with their husbands or fathers or mommas until the very last minute when they were allowed to be.

On the other hand, this theme of "trauma-informed pedagogy" feels like an opportunity some higher educators have taken for a publication gig. That's mean; I'm rather in a feisty and contentious mood anyway right now. This week I've said "No" to three entities asking more from me than they had a right to. We need to return to a more balanced view of risk. As I said in the first paragraph, everything has risk elements and we have allowed ourselves too much latitude in that regard.