by
Walter Brasch
A student sued Misericordia College
because she failed a nursing class. Twice.
She said she suffered psychological
problems. Those problems included anxiety, depression, and poor concentration
skills.
The college had agreed to allow her to
retake the final examination last summer.
It set her up in a stress-free room, gave
her extra time to complete the test, and did not provide a proctor. The
professor said the student could call her by cell phone. That professor was in
another building monitoring another test.
The student again failed the required
course.
So now she’s suing. She claims the
professor didn’t answer her numerous cell phone calls. She claims this made it
more stressful. She claims it wasn’t her fault she failed. It was the
professor’s fault. The college president’s fault. And several others’ fault.
So
she sued, claiming the college violated her rights under the Americans With
Disabilities Act.
That lawsuit acknowledges she had average
to below average grades.
Let’s pretend that a federal court agrees
with her, and she gets so many accommodations that she now passes that course
and somehow earns her nursing degree.
Let’s also pretend that when she takes her
nursing boards, the state gives her extra time, in a room by herself, without a
proctor, makes one available by cell phone to answer questions–and, perhaps,
allows her to have whatever notes and textbooks and learning aids she needs to
pass that exam.
Assume all this. Now, here’s the next
question. Would you be comfortable
having a nurse who can’t handle stress? Who admits she can’t concentrate? Who
barely passed her college courses and requirements for a license?
Society should make accommodations for
persons with disabilities—as long as those disabilities don’t directly affect
others and reduce the quality of care. Perhaps the student could be a
nurse-educator, helping others better understand the need for vaccinations or
how to care for young children. If that’s the case, why even test for state
boards and get the R.N. added to the B.S.N. degree? Perhaps, with psychological
help, the student might be able one day to handle the stress of testing and clinical
nursing.
Perhaps, the student could become an
administrator. But, would nurses be willing to work for someone who suffers
stress attacks and has never worked in patient care? Would teachers be willing
to work for principals who never taught a class? Would firefighters be willing
to take orders from a battalion chief who was never on a fire line or who
rescued victims?
There are persons in the health care
professions who are blind or deaf or who are paraplegics, and who perform their
tasks as well as anyone else. But, almost all of those with physical
disabilities probably studied hard, may have even exceeded the expectations and
abilities of others who don’t have physical disabilities, and are working in
areas that don’t impact patient care. A neurosurgeon with epilepsy, for
example, would be rare, but a medical researcher, psychiatrist, or
rheumatologist with epilepsy or mental or physical issues might be highly
functional and, possibly, contribute far more than any neurosurgeon.
John Nash, who probably had far more
psychological problems than the nursing student, still managed to earn a Ph.D. in
mathematics from Princeton, become a tenured professor at M.I.T., and earn the Nobel
Prize in Economics for his work on game theory. His story, told in A Beautiful Mind, has a subtle
underlying theme—even with his mental issues, he didn’t expect society to grant
him extraordinary accommodations.
The sense of
entitlement—and providing rewards for the smallest of achievements—goes back to
almost a neonatal stage. We now have kindergarten graduations, complete with
caps, gowns, and diplomas. For the next 12 years, our children will receive sparkling
peel-off stars on their homework papers, medals and trophies for being one of the
top 3 or 5 or 7 winners in athletic competitions. Even if they don’t get the
hardware, they get embossed ribbons just for participating.
In college, many students, forced to leave
boxes of rewards at home, resort to excuses to demand special treatment and
rewards for not achieving what they and their parents believe is their destiny.
They complain about the amount of writing required. They complain the professor
distracts them because she is too beautiful or too ugly or that she wears dated
clothes. Black students complain that their White teachers are racist; White
students complain that their Black teachers are racist. They claim to have
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and gobble adderall as if it were
M&Ms, taking away time that teachers, counselors, and physicians can work
with those who truly have ADHD and who, for the most part, don’t use that
diagnosis as an excuse.
In a grade-inflated environment, where a
“B” is now the “new average,” propped up by many professors not holding to
rigorous academic standards and the college more interested in pleasing
parents, who pay the tuition and fees than in enforcing rigorous academic
standards, the student graduates. Perhaps we need to ask who might be more valuable
to society—a plumber, an electrician, or a farmer, against an unemployed
English major who can write compositions about ethereal subjects or a lawyer
whose goal is to amass thousands of billable hours and a country club
membership on the way to a partnership.
Our society is saturated with people with
college degrees who complain they didn’t get the “A” they wanted, and now whine
it isn’t their fault they have so much debt and no job.
Many of our millennial children believe
they are entitled to have what they believe their needs are. After all, the
media skewer them with ads, photos, and stories of people who “have it all.”
Isn’t it just logical for teens and those in their 20s to hear the siren call
from the media and want the bling that others have?
When all the ephemera are stripped away,
we are left with a college generation that believes they are entitled to that high grade, that job,
that upscale lifestyle. Somewhere,
there might even be a clinical nurse whose own problems, or perceived problems,
affect someone’s health.
[Dr.
Brasch was an advocate for the mentally and physically disabled, long before he
had to use a handicapped parking placard. His latest book is Fracking Pennsylvania.]
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