The Accommodation Problem
The Walrus|September/October 2024
Extensions. Extra exam time. Online everything. Addressing the complex needs of students is creating chaos on campus
SIMON LEWSE
The Accommodation Problem

When Nathan was in high school, his obsessive compulsive disorder derailed his education. He suffered from a version called pure obsessional, or pure O. Along with typical ocd rituals, like handwashing or hoarding, people with pure O are also plagued with unwanted mental imagery, much of it violent or grotesque.

Nathan (a pseudonym) never thought to ask his teachers in small-town Ontario for support, and he’s not sure he would’ve gotten any if he had. He failed grade-eleven math and grade-twelve English. He ended up moving to Toronto, where he waited tables, served at city hall, and worked for a queer publisher. Eventually, he finished high school and got grades high enough to be accepted, as a mature student, into the University of Toronto. This time, he was determined to thrive.

Nathan found that instructors expected a degree of mental toughness.

He remembers a philosophy class in which a student attempted to apply a certain thinker’s moral ideas to a recent news story about a serial killer. When the discussion veered into the lurid details of the case, Nathan’s ocd spiked. He felt the familiar symptoms — panic, light headedness, shortness of breath, despair.

A few days later, Nathan approached his instructor privately. “In the future,” he recalls asking, “can you keep the conversation on track?” Her response was firm. She explained that class discussions are sometimes unruly, and while she’d continue to moderate them as best she could, it wasn’t her job to anticipate each student’s sensitivities. Nathan didn’t argue with her. “I told myself: That’s just the way university works,” he says. “I’ve got to either sink or swim.”

Bu hikaye The Walrus dergisinin September/October 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye The Walrus dergisinin September/October 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

THE WALRUS DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
The Walrus

Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype

Some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are throwing their full weight behind AI. On top of the billions spent by big tech, funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion (US) in 2023.

time-read
10+ dak  |
July/August 2024
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
The Walrus

MY GUILTY PLEASURE

MY CHILDREN are grown, with their own partners, their own lives.

time-read
3 dak  |
September/October 2024
The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours
The Walrus

The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours

New techniques reveal hidden details in the Dutch master’s paintings

time-read
6 dak  |
September/October 2024
Repeat after Me
The Walrus

Repeat after Me

TikTok and Instagram are helping to bring Indigenous languages back from the brink

time-read
8 dak  |
September/October 2024
Smokehouse
The Walrus

Smokehouse

I WAS STANDING THERE at the corner, the corner where the smaller street intersects with the slightly wider one.

time-read
10+ dak  |
September/October 2024
How Could They Just Lose Him?
The Walrus

How Could They Just Lose Him?

The Huronia Regional Centre was supposed to be a safe home for people with disabilities. Then, amid suspicions of abuse at the facility, twenty-one-year-old Robin Windross vanished without a trace

time-read
10+ dak  |
September/October 2024
Prairie Radical
The Walrus

Prairie Radical

How conspiracy theorists splintered a small town

time-read
10+ dak  |
September/October 2024
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe
The Walrus

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Scott Moe rose quietly through the ranks. Now the Saskatchewan premier and his party are shaping policies with national consequences

time-read
10+ dak  |
September/October 2024
The Accommodation Problem
The Walrus

The Accommodation Problem

Extensions. Extra exam time. Online everything. Addressing the complex needs of students is creating chaos on campus

time-read
10+ dak  |
September/October 2024
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
The Walrus

MY GUILTY PLEASURE

I WAS AS SURPRISED as anyone when I became obsessed with comics again last year, at the advanced age of forty-five. As a kid, I loved reading G.I. Joe and The Amazing Spider-Man.

time-read
3 dak  |
July/August 2024