By CB
Part I: Caring Professors → Week 2.2
In week 2 of our Who Cares seminar, the topic was Caring Politics, and one day we more specifically focused on the topic of caring classrooms. In the activity for this class we were given empathy maps with sections of “says”, “does”, “thinks” and “feels” and asked to generate ideas on what a caring classroom environment does in each of the categories. We then as a class generalized all of our ideas and created a collective classroom care agreement in which we would all follow for the semester. My immediate thought when starting this activity was in what ways do professors act that make me feel cared or uncared about. In my opinion, a good classroom environment starts with the teacher, or professor in the university case. When professors don’t care for who they’re teaching it's certainly felt by the students which can lead to problems within and outside of the classroom. The reading for this week spoke about the link between professor care and overall student well-being, stating “The bonds students develop with professors and peers have a significant impact on their happiness. Feeling connected makes a difference in their academic achievement, too.” (Samuel, 2017). One of the main ideas from this week’s reading was the idea of the Three R’s, respect, recognition and reciprocity, being fundamental, core elements for a caring university classroom (Samuel, 2017). In my personal experience, so far I have noticed quite the difference between some of my uni classes. Specifically the designated landscape architecture ones and those without LARC in the course code. The class where I say I feel the most seen and supported by my professors has to be the LARC studio classes. I think this experience of care I feel is purely fueled by the ability to talk one on one with my professor. During our studio “desk crits” we are able to talk to our professors directly about any questions we have about assignments or ask for any feedback on our concepts/designs. Being able to see and talk to them in a more relaxed setting than a typical classroom eases some of the anxiety that myself and I’m sure others feel when talking to a professor. I also think that the professors for this first year seminar course have also been doing a really good job at forming and strengthening caring connections with the students. They take the time to learn everyone’s name, comfort levels and they are also very understanding when students are affected by something outside of school whether it be an appointment or something in our other courses. One thing that the activity and reading the article made me think about was what can allow some professors to provide more care for their students than others?
What can allow some professors to provide more care for their students than others?
An evident advantage that my landscape architecture professors and the professors of this first year seminar have is that they have classes of fewer students. Having classes of sometimes almost 300 students makes it merely impossible to be able to provide as much care to individuals as those who have less than 100 students per class. I feel like in general, our quality of care towards anyone, whether it be in a classroom setting or not, tends to decrease as more and more people are added.
Part II: Caring Student Spaces → Week 4.1
In week 4 of our Who Cares seminar, the topic was Caring Communities, and one day we specifically focused on the core features of caring communities. In the activity for the class we were asked to come up with a new group, campaign or event that would help make the university a more caring place in our given element, my group’s being public space. We decided to try and think of ways to improve one of the most public spaces on campus, the McLaughlin library. In the reading for this week, it is said that “public spaces are crucial for building caring communities because they are egalitarian and accessible to all, and can foster conviviality, interconnections and emergence of communal life.” (Chatzidakis, et al., 2020). The library along with other public spaces on campus are a huge part of student life, whether it be the classroom, places to hang out after/between classes, attend events or to work on assignments/projects. I personally use the library quite a bit, not typically for the books but rather for space to be able to freely work on assignments or to simply meet up with friends. One feature that I love about the library is how different needs of students were taken into consideration when the floors were divided into individual study and group study. I actually wish that there were more floors dedicated to group study as it seems to always be the busiest, always filled with people simply just wanting to be around others even if they have headphones on while doing their work.
To have these caring spaces on campus means that they also have to be accessible to everyone...
To have these caring spaces on campus means that they also have to be accessible to everyone, even those who use wheelchairs, crutches, canes, walkers and etc. This is something that I have become more aware of after my brother was on crutches due to a broken ankle in his last year of highschool. He actually wasn’t able to attend any of his classes due to them all being on the second floor, the school had no elevator or alternative method for those unable to go up stairs. This put him at a disadvantage compared to other kids as he had no teacher actually teaching him, only the notes he was given. From personal knowledge of the campus, there are still actually a few buildings that still don’t have elevators or alternatives other than stairs. The landscape architecture building’s second floor is home to all of the studios and the print shop. If I or another student weren’t able to get up the stairs we would lose access to so many essential spaces for our degree. I’ve also heard from a friend who lived in one of the east residences that there was no elevator which was shocking to me. How can such an important element of student life, such as housing on campus, be so limiting? In the end, this activity really made me reflect and start to recognize what aspects of campus spaces are caring but also sometimes uncaring towards students.
Part III: Caring Student Resources → Week 4.1
In week 4 of our Who Cares seminar, the topic was Caring Communities, one day we specifically focused on the core features of caring communities. The activity for this class was for my group to come up with a new group, campaign or event that would help make the university a more caring place in the aspect of public space. We decided to focus on thinking how the McLaughlin library that’s on campus could be improved. The activity also made me reflect on the aspects of mutual support and shared resources that are already prominent in the library. It’s obviously a huge source of shared resources, books, journals etc but, it also offers a bunch of other resources and support. Whenever I walk through the library I always pass by this section that is dedicated to appointments students can book for help with a plethora of topics like writing efficiency, research help, studying tips, and more. As the reading for this week says, “We can also share immaterial resources to collectivise our skills and knowledge.” (Chatzidakis, et al., 2020), which is something that I feel the university is doing well in in the sense of having the library support appointments. Another shared resource that I, and I’m pretty sure the rest of the landscape architecture students, really appreciate is Rick and Willies. Rick and Willies is what we call our print shop that is located in the LA building that gives us access to printers, plotters and scanners that cost us only $70 for all 4 years in the program. Almost every project we do in the course we’d have to use at least one of the machines that are in Rick and Willies. If me and other LA students didn’t have access to these machines in the shop and had to get sometimes 3 sheets of 24 x 36 projects printed at stores such as Staples, we would be paying a ridiculous amount of money. The university also has quite a few mutual support resources such as the Safe Gryphon app. When I came to U of G in September, I had my friend who is now in her second year send me all of the apps that she had downloaded for campus, the Safe Gryphon app was one of them. I would say the most prominent feature of this app is easy access to the student-run organization Safewalk in which you can request someone to walk with you after dark for free. As a female I know what it's like to feel uncomfortable walking by yourself, especially at night, so I really appreciate that this option is out there for the cases where any student doesn’t feel comfortable walking by themselves on campus. The app also has other support options such as scheduled check-ins when you are working alone, location sharing with friends, easy access to mental health counseling and more. The lesson and activity for this day of seminar really made me realize many resources and sources of aid there are on campus for students. It also made me wonder if in the future, when I’ve spent longer at the university, what resources I could possibly find to be missing.
It also made me wonder if in the future when I’ve spent longer at the university, what resources I could possibly find to be missing.
Part IV: Student Self-Care → Week 2.1
In week 2 of our Who Cares seminar, the topic was Caring Politics, and one day we more specifically focused on the topic of care and our everyday lives. The activity for this class was to, as a group, read a set of quotations that were given and think about the discussion questions that went along with them. The activity made me acknowledge my tendency of wanting to have little to no dependency on others. The reading this week mentioned how historically, and still sometimes currently, caring for others and being dependent on others’ care is viewed as a feminine trait and a source of frailty or weakness (Chatzidakis, et al., 2020). This premise is detrimental to anyone, no matter gender, race, status, etc as for a long time “Dependence on care has been pathologized, rather than recognized as part of our human condition.” (Chatzidakis, et al., 2020). I feel like many times we resist asking for help in order to try and save ourselves from possible humiliation but, in my opinion asking for help is a form of self-care. I have a habit of wanting to be able to do everything in my life without the help of others but, when I struggle by myself I feel embarrassed to ask for help. I think back to the times throughout highschool when I would sit there racking my brain trying to figure out a homework question by myself because I was ashamed to say I needed help. In all honesty I probably caused myself more mental stress and fatigue than getting help would have. Another thing that I feel that a lot of university students, like myself, struggle with is feeling as though we have the time or energy to fulfill self-care needs. School work can be so mentally and physically draining that you lose any energy or motivation to fulfill even basic forms of self-care such as, hygiene, drinking water, social interaction, etc. A lot of the time I can be working for sometimes hours straight on assignments, projects or studying and I forget to do such basic self-care such as eating dinner or making sure I go to bed at a decent time. As I’ve progressed from highschool to university, I started to set out certain routines for self-care that I need to do during the day in order to make sure that I don’t risk jeopardizing my mental health too much. One routine, or maybe more so rule, I have is to stop doing work after 10 pm unless absolutely necessary so I can have proper time to decompress from the day before I go to bed. It also helps me not get too caught up with work to the point I stay up late and not get enough sleep to properly function the next day. I also make sure that I set enough time for myself in the morning to do my makeup and not be rushed. Personally, doing my daily makeup is something that I really enjoy and when I have enough time to do it at my own pace it makes me feel really calm. All in all, this activity and the reading really made me think about how in many ways we need to personally work on our own ideas of care in order to start properly caring for others and yourself.
All in all, this activity and the reading really made me think about how in many ways we need to personally work on our own ideas of care in order to start properly caring for others and yourself.
Resources
Samuel, K. (2017, August 3). Creating more caring university classrooms. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/creating-more-caring-university-classrooms
Chatzidakis, A., Hakim, J., Litter, J., & Rottenberg, C. (2020). Chapter 3: Caring communities. The care manifesto: The politics of interdependence (pp. 45-58). Verso Books
Chatzidakis, A., Hakim, J., Litter, J., & Rottenberg, C. (2020). Chapter 1: Caring Politics. The care manifesto: The politics of interdependence (pp.21-31 ). Verso Books.
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