WSJ : Colleges Bend the Rules for More Students, Give Them Extra Help

Parents Forum
41

I can’t imagine why ANY parent would want their kid to go through K-12 with the stigma of an IEP and being pulled out of classes to have “special” teachers to help him speak, read and eventually write at 50% with a 99th percentile brain… Porsche brain yes…a good analogy. More power to my kid. He took it in stride and never, ever gave up, but it was painful for him I’m sure (as a “third” following two brothers who were excellent students and things came easy). When S3 got accepted to Engineering school I sent an email to his elementary special ed teacher and thanked her. I thank every day that I walk the earth for the first grade teacher he had who recognized something was terribly “wrong” and took care of coordinating his initial testing with the school psychiatrist and I did a private little mental happy dance each time S3 made the dean’s list in college.

I especially thank S3 for grasping what he wanted, grasping what he didn’t and becoming his own best self advocate. It is not too far in the past that dyslexics were considered slow and never went to college. It runs in our family. One shirt tail relative went into the computer industry in the early days – a high school drop out labeled dumb because he struggled to read and write and with no college degree – and ended up doing exceptionally well. Many dyslexics go on to do amazing things these days now that there are real supports and understanding. I really try not to be concerned about what other families do. Some people will cheat to get a leg up. But best to just be true to yourself.

42

The notion that all you need is a doctor’s note is a problem. I have 3 daughters, all are bright, but the middle one has a serious mental health condition, along with migraines and seizures. Medications help all 3 conditions, but do not eliminate or even control them. She attends community college, and does have accommodations, and even with those she ended up taking this past year off, because the stress was too much. I suspect the schools seeing the higher numbers of disabled students are the same schools that have built a reputation of working with the students to find what helps them - whether that is extra time, different settings for exams, or someone to take notes. Yes, all other students might benefit some from these accommodations, but not generally to the level the disabled students benefit. The average student isn’t going to benefit much from extra time, unless the exam written in such a way as to ensure they don’t have enough time - extra time isn’t going to help if they don’t know the material. My youngest daughter would almost never benefit from extra time, because she finishes everything quickly, often halfway through the testing period. And you must consider that accommodations that change the nature of the class are not legally required.

The other piece of the equation is just how difficult it is to qualify for accommodations. Yes, well-off families have better access to diagnosis and treatment, as do poor families. When my middle daughter was in high school, she attended an intensive counseling program after school multiple times - 3 or 4 days a week, she missed her last class of the day to attend. I had to provide the transportation, while most of the other participants had transportation provided through their insurance (Medicaid). There were other programs available to them as well, only available to those with Medicaid, unless they were self-pay. She struggled through middle school, and we knew something was wrong, but she qualified for the “gifted and talented” program, so nobody though she would qualify. She had top scores on state testing - never mind that I showed from the lateral scores on that same testing that she had made ZERO progress since 4th grade, she had moved from the top of the scale to the bottom of the top score category.

Learning disabilities and mental illness exist on a spectrum, and should be accommodated on a spectrum. If medication really does mitigate the problem, then there is no need to accommodation, but often it does not. And having a diagnosis in not in itself qualification for accommodations, any more than it qualifies someone to collect Disability payments. It is the severity of the symptoms, and how they impact your ability to function that qualifies. Not just doctor’s note stating you have ADHD, but a note that mentions how that impacts your focus, your memory, your distractibility, a note that indicates what accommodations help, and why.

43

The thing about metaphors is that they extend. When one speaks of Porsche brains, one also imagines rusted out brains, junkers by the side of the road, Yugos, and Fords. The implications of the metaphor does not end with your child’s expensive brain. What? My average child has a Mazda brain? The goal of learning is to go fast? Problems are mechanical and can be fixed?

The metaphor is a bad one.

44

@brantly it was a part of a wellness program which allows for reduced health insurance payments and incentives to people trying to improve their physical and mental health.

45

“it was a part of a wellness program which allows for reduced health insurance payments and incentives to people trying to improve their physical and mental health.”

Ouch. Everybody has to find their place on the paranoia spectrum from worry about nothing all the way to wear a tinfoil hat because They are listening, but there is no way I’d be disclosing mental health issues or health details to an employer. Not only is health information gathered that way by an employer not covered by HIPAA privacy standards, mental health issues can carry a huge stigma. So you’re giving information to an employer who may use that information against you and isn’t required to keep it private in the way a healthcare provider is… yikes. No way, Jose.

Other than the very basic information that would be obvious to an employer anyways, I’d be very leery about giving health data to an employer. Too much potential for abuse. Sure, I’d certify I don’t smoke (which again, would be very obvious to any employer without the need for confidential data), but I wouldn’t agree to give an employer much more data than that.

But for context, I’m also a person that wouldn’t submit DNA to any database because I believe the potential for future issue is high and the risk doesn’t outweigh the reward. Given the increasing popularity of sites like 23andme, etc, I am obviously at the tinfoil hat end of the spectrum. (Or all the people happily putting their DNA out there are just not thinking of the potential risks and will be horrified over the next decade or so when misuse of that data starts to happen…)

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@milee30 I never participated in any of it. There was pressure to participate in order to lower health care costs but I didn’t cave. I feel the same as you. Having said that, several people did indicate they had some anxiety issues and/or ADHD and accommodations were made. I guess it’s a double edged sword. But I am with you - I haven’t done ancestry sites, didn’t do wellness, and am incredibly selective about what goes “on the cloud” - Maybe I need a tin foil hat :slight_smile:

47

I like living in a country that has a law like 504 that protects disabled citizen from discrimination. The long history of lack of access for many at a multitude of levels is not pretty. Do some people game the system to an unfair advantage? Of course. That is a misuse of the right/law, and when that happens it negates some of the good that the law can do for those who truly need the protection of it. I feel pretty confident that this will level out with time.

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Do colleges know that the test taker got more time as an accommodation?

49

“If I take Xanax, I’m no longer anxious.”

If you believe that statement, you have no idea what anxiety is. Depression doesn’t mean you are sad. Anxiety doesn’t mean you are nervous. They are very complex and can be down right scary.

Maybe the “trend” of more students needing accommodations is like more kids having Autism. It is not the amount of people with various disabilities that is increasing, it is the amount of diagnosis.

50

Only debatable point is 22% of the class taking accommodations, its a red flag that system is getting abused and colleges don’t blink eyes because it helps maintain their graduation rate and rankings.

51

Idiots hosing other idiots. Where will this end–you dont want to know.

52

Who is this situation are the “idiots”?

53

“As many as one in four students at some elite U.S. colleges are now classified as disabled, largely because of mental-health issues such as depression or anxiety, entitling them to a widening array of special accommodations like longer time to take exams.”

The key words here are “at some elite U.S. colleges.” This is not 25% of all college students. As mentioned up thread, some college have very good accommodations and advertise as such, which would garner a higher percent than normal. My daughter’s college, not “elite,” has such a program. It covers all disabilities. People seek it out. People pick it because of the program.

Having not read the article, I would like to know how they could say the classifications are “largely because of mental health issues.” I would not think a college would say what % have A, what have B, etc.

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“Do colleges know that the test taker got more time as an accommodation?”

No, they don’t and can’t know as part of 504, they can’t discriminate based on disabilities (learning, physical, any that’s defined by the 504 law.

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@mamalion
I previously stated that we can agree to disagree. I believe the “Porsche brain,” metaphor is a good one and I’m not going to change my mind. The matter is so trivial that I honestly don’t think it warrants further discussion.

56

Judging from some of my students, if you give them an unlimited amount of time, some of them will be there until they retire and collect social security. Whole industries will spring up around keeping these lifetime test takers alive. You have to set an end time somewhere. And as soon as you do, someone will demand that they need just a wee bit longer. I don’t see anything wrong with the current plan + accommodations.

57

I don’t understand the thread title. Providing accommodations to students whose parents have submitted the results of extensive testing isn’t “bending the rules.” Students only receive accommodations if their parents have followed their college’s application rules, and those can be very specific and costly. It’s unfortunate that some professors don’t understand why accommodations are necessary. They should visit their school’s student services office so the staff there can explain it to them.

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"Something I found odd was the quote from the Pomona dean. “At Pomona, we have extremely talented bright students with very high expectations who are coming in with a good level of anxiety and are highly stressed,” says Jan Collins-Eaglin, the Claremont, Calif., college’s associate dean of students for personal success and wellness. “Our job here is to help them really thrive.”

I found that odd too, highly stressed kids at selective schools like Pomona are probably 80% of the population, so giving them accommodations like you wold someone who’s been on an IEP/504 plan in middle and/or HS would violate the spirit of what the ADA was trying to accomplish, unless it was a diagnosed anxiety/depression issue. I could understand offering counseling or other services as they adjust to college, but not extra time on tests.

59

PC admin/faculty on one side and over-coddled students on he other. Real life has no such thing. Boss, I cant do this project in a week because of my high anxiety and ADD. Gee, that’s too bad. Here’s a nice box. Good luck in the future. NEXT.

60

@barrons You clearly have no idea what having an anxiety disorder is like.