Arend Thibodeau
Sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression; these are not just talking points on the news, they are very real conditions that affect significant percentages of our campus populations. In 2016, Boston University published a report stating that “mental health has become a critical issue on college campuses” (Brown), and a 2017 Penn State Study revealed that the number of students diagnosed with or treated for anxiety “have shown year-over-year increases since 2013” (Health). Some colleges are making efforts to bring awareness to anxiety related disorders, but my observations have revealed that it is not enough. Not only do I feel strongly that those who suffer with anxiety related disorders are underrepresented in the writing center, but I also assert many campus English departments are underrepresenting their respective writing centers.
I attend the University of Maine where I am a student and peer-tutor. My circumstances are somewhat unique as I am a non-traditional, U.S. Military veteran with PTSD. Recently, I had a blue book exam in English literature, the first time I had encountered such an exam, and I do not believe it will be the last. The blue book exam is administered on a short timeline in the form of one or two essay questions, sometimes forewarned by professors, but often not. The concept of the blue book exam goes against the very nature of writing center philosophy. After all, is it not best to spend time reasoning with thought before committing oneself to paper? The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors outlines the writing process as being one of four stages: planning, drafting, revision, and editing/proofreading; further, this process engages “different cognitive tasks one at a time rather than attempting to complete them all at once” (Fitzgerald and Melissa ). Is it not the English department, then, who is underrepresenting the writing center by endorsing this sort of rapid-fire, essay farming? It is a poetic irony, I suppose, yet it bears relevance. As I was preparing to take the exam, a classmate leaned toward me and told me she had incredible anxiety. When I told her she was not alone, and I suffered from PTSD induced anxiety, she opened up about the anxiety disorder that she was trying to control, admitting she could not write well under pressure when her brain was trying to turn to flight mode.
Interestingly, I found surprisingly little when researching student information with regard to anxiety and stress disorders. The Palomar College Student Veterans Services has this to say for their veteran students:
When it comes to the college setting, PTSD presents some very serious problems. For some, it may be difficult to be around people and to attend larger classes, take exams in a crowded room, be enrolled full-time, or, as is common in combat veterans, deal with common noises and stimuli present on a college campus (Services).
This seems to be an excellent start to understanding, but speaking strictly from experience, I have been involved with writing center pedagogies enough to realize that anxiety related conditions are very real conditions that are the subject of far more ridicule than serious consideration. These conditions can adversely affect a student’s ability to write analytically and academically. We need to take information such as this away from the obscurity of a veteran’s services post, and bring it to the forefront so that students with these issues will feel as though they have an advocate in the writing center, and we should be increasing awareness in our writing centers for these issues. English departments that send mixed messages should analyze the pedagogies that they are using to assess the academic ability of students. In short, in the writing center, we advocate a philosophy of careful and thoughtful thesis development and believe that speed is not synonymous with academic excellence. This philosophy not only promotes higher learning, but also, it is conducive to a healthy, stable, learning environment for those who suffer with debilitating anxieties that alter their immediate, short-term performance, but not overall cognitive ability or academic achievement.
The key to representation is awareness. We need to bring more awareness into the writing center for issues associated with PTSD and anxiety disorders that slow or alter the learning process, and we need to practice uniformity with what we theorize to be successful writing practices within the liberal arts community. Further, Susanne Babbel asserts that “It’s also important for instructors to understand that students with PTSD who seem to fail their classes might, in fact, be very smart people and that their grades are not a reflection of their intelligence or potential, but only the interference of PTSD” (PhD). I have been involved with the writing center for multiple semesters, and overheard jokes referencing “exam induced PTSD” or “anxiety caused from too much homework,” but these are not issues that warrant jokes, and in some ironic twist, the insensitivity is becoming more and more prominent as mental health awareness increases in the media.
There are no shortcuts in the academic writing process and in the writing center we vehemently stress that careful, analytical thought that is free from distraction is fundamental to the process of writing. In the English department, professors should embrace this and encourage students to use the writing center to bridge the gap between incapacitating performance anxiety and academic excellence. Finally, we need to increase our sensitivity to those who suffer from these conditions just as we have for other demographics. We need to understand that these disorders are often silent, not easily recognized, and they carry negative connotations from years of being treated like hidden taboos that do not warrant discussion. We should not be content to just post information on obscure webpages and bring these issues to the forefront so those who suffer with anxiety conditions can be empowered to be productive members of academia.
Works Cited
Babbel, Susanne. “Students with PTSD.” Psychology Today. 9 Aug. 2012. Web.
Brown, Joel. Mental Health Matters: Anxiety, the most common mental health diagnosis in college students. student health service. Boston: Boston University, 2016. Web.
Center for Collegiate Mental Health. 2017 Annual report. Annual. University Park: Penn State University, 2018. Print.
Fitzgerald, Lauren and Ianetta Melissa . The Oxford Guide For Writing Tutors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Print.
Veterens Services. Post-traumatic stress disorder & the college student. Veteren-Student information. San Marcos: Polomar College, 2014. Print.
About the Author
Arend Thibodeau is a non-traditional student at the University of Maine in Orono. A United States Navy Veteran, and entrepreneur, he returned to college to fulfill a lifelong goal of completing a formal education. After earning a bachelor’s degree in the University Studies Program, Arend decided to continue in pursuit of a second major in English. With a belief that his personal advancement can only be achieved through academic excellence, Arend has maintained membership in both the Phi Kappa Phi, and Alpha Sigma Lambda honor societies. His philosophy that a person should use their talents to help others is what landed Arend in the writing center as a peer-tutor where his pedagogy focuses on helping writers through empowerment and mentorship.
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