Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: On a campus whose hard-charging culture exacts an emotional toll on some students, Carnegie Mellon University junior Soniya Shah told a group of freshmen this fall something they may not often hear.
Every so often, it's OK to fail.
Her simple message -- delivered in a new course -- is one often lost on those who were the best in their high school class but quickly discover when they arrive at Carnegie Mellon that no matter how many all-nighters they pull, everyone around them seems just as smart or smarter.
1 comment:
I am glad I found this article simply due to the fact that it was written about four years ago. The stress culture that was mentioned in this article is still very much present in Carnegie Mellon today. I am not sure if it is worse or better, but the sad part is is that it is still there. The fact that stress cultures like this have been known to lead to depression and suicide makes me question why more things aren't done to prevent it. There was a course mentioned, Thrive @ CMU, that was supposed to be created to help students adjust to CMU properly. It sounds like a useful course that could help many students, but it was never established or kept. The main freshmen course now is C@CM, which simply goes over the steps that need to be taken in order to protect the school from cyber issues. I wish that the school did more to promote that perfection is not possible, and that trying your best is what is asked of instead. I know in the School of Drama the stress culture is crazy, but I think part of that is due to the fact that people hype it up. While it is very stressful, I think the presence to be perfect overrides the need for basic human health. I think there should be more conversation on how to keep CMU from being a stress culture as a good start in the right direction.
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