Headspace

I’ve been thinking a lot about the brain lately, that extraordinary tool we all have to process thoughts, emotions, and memories, and to enable learning and creativity. My mother, as some know, has dementia. Her brain has failing neuroplasticity, manifesting in her progressive inability to recall, that critical tool for daily human interaction and processing of information. Yet, at present, it seems to have brought her a kind of peace—one that is simply about being in a moment versus forming and articulating an opinion about it.

She projects what appears to be deep listening and a kind of outward love that wasn’t really in her wheelhouse before. For instance, she smiles almost constantly, and has never hugged me quite so tightly before when I would see her, or say the words, “I love you” as she does now. Intellectually, I sort of understand this; emotionally, I actually like it, even though I hate what is happening to her, the affliction she most worried about getting. Selfishly, I find myself somewhat envious that she doesn’t seem concerned about all the negative things swirling in our world.

The other reason I have been thinking about the brain is a generational one, triggered by a podcast about social media in which U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is interviewed about young people’s mental health, something that he extends in another podcast to parents who are stressed as they navigate parenthood today. It got me thinking about a powerful moment I had with one of my daughters a few years ago (in her early 20s) in which we found ourselves reflecting on what life was like for each of us emerging from college. For me, it was filled with optimism—the U.S. and its values were on top, Communism had failed, and the market economy seemed to bring prosperity and opportunity through individual initiative. For her, the world seemed to be ungluing. Standing on a subway platform, for instance, as a matter of routine, she'd observantly look for a place to hide/duck in the event of a mass shooting. I can’t say I ever worried about such a thing.

Whether the advent of social media “caused” that, I cannot say, but I did find myself reflecting on my two bookends, my mother and my daughter, the former who seemed blissfully unaware, or not caring about chaos (just her son, me), and the latter, who I wanted to assuage her worry. I also know we have many young people at WP.

In hopeful anticipation that my sharing this story found some connection for you, I wanted to relay that later this month are our Wellness Days, October 17 and 18. These two days without classes were established three years ago to enable a break for our students, and for us (staff and faculty) to have an opportunity for reflection on how we can best aid not only student wellness, but also our own. The Wellness Day Planning Committee has built a wonderful set of activities and experiences for October 17; a final schedule is coming out shortly. There are a mix of in-person and online opportunities—some mildly/modestly physical, some intellectual, and some social, the latter also important as a reminder that being in community is also a contributor to wellness. One session in particular that I am especially looking forward to is focused on navigating disagreements, something that is so important right now, and with extraordinary relevance in the classroom for teaching students these skills as well.

Let’s come together and find ways to reduce the anxiety that swirls inside and around us. See you on October 17!

Today’s fun facts are a walk back in time to the roots of a fundamental component of U.S. higher education with implications today that are drawn from this highly engaging podcast called Credentials Unscripted. See if you can guess the right answers (answers at bottom of this campus message).

• Does the credit hour measure learning or seat time?
• What turn of the 20th century industrialist is credited with its creation?
• What’s the likely future of transcripts?

Does the credit hour measure learning or seat time? Seat time. Since the 1960s, there have been ongoing debates on if it should be this way. But so far, the ability to transfer credits from one institution to another efficiently as a kind of currency has superseded the broad embrace of other approaches such as competency-based learning.

What turn of the 20^th century industrialist is credited with its creation? Andrew Carnegie. His investment in retirement pensions for college faculty (what we know as TIAA today) in return for his insistence on the standardization of credits and credit hours, and that “college” should be a minimum of four years of study, brought institutions on board to what we have today.

What’s the likely future of transcripts? With the advent of electronic transcripts, the integration of links that more completely demonstrate the meaning of a grade. Badging associated with subcomponents of a curriculum is also the future.