The snowflake invasion

[Hawkmoon]

Colleges are experiencing exponential growth in the numbers of students claiming to be "disabled" because they can't handle stress.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/colleges-bend-the-rules-for-more-students-give-them-extra-help-1527154200

Psychologists have many theories to explain the rise in mental-health diagnoses among college-age students, from social-media habits to less stigma around mental illness.

How about too many millennials who have gone though "everyone gets a prize, no one is allowed to fail ... or excel" high schools and who simply aren't prepared to enter college, let alone actually do college-level work? A couple of decades ago the inequality was colleges admitting quotas of "dsadvantaged" students who were allowed in even though they were essentially functionally illiterate. They were given special tutoring over the summer before their freshman year, then (after failing freshman year) they were given another summer of special tutoring to catch up. Many flunked out anyway, and other graduated without being able to do anything useful. But they took up spaces that could/should have gone to students who would have benefited from the education.

So now we substitute special snowflakes who are "disabled" for special groups who were "dsadvantaged," and the inequality parade continues unabated.

Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, an attorney who has represented public schools in special-education and disability law and has written several books about accommodations, said that giving some test takers extended time on the SAT is “like lowering the basket from 10 feet to eight feet; you’re changing the game.”

...

Wealthier students are more likely to receive accommodations than poor students, Ms. Freedman said.

Surprise, surprise!

[MechAg94]

It isn't just the pressure, but the older they get, the more they have to answer questions about a career and job and 'what do I want to do with my life?'.  They are not prepared to face those questions.  At least for the ones that this is talking about.

[HankB]

Maybe some people claiming to be "disabled" see special consideration being given to other "disabled" students and have just decided to work the system . . . reminds me of my college days and the Caucasian immigrant (a naturalized citizen) from South Africa who listed his race as "African-American" or the many, many student applicants for scholarships who listed themselves as "Native American."   

[KD5NRH]

reminds me of my college days and the Caucasian immigrant (a naturalized citizen) from South Africa who listed his race as "African-American"

I worked with one of those guys.  Curly blond hair and blue eyes.  It was priceless when people would want to argue with him about putting African-American on the paperwork.  Especially people 6+ generations removed from Africa who felt exclusive claim to it because of their skin color.

[just Warren]

Wouldn't he be an Afrikaner-American?

[Hawkmoon]

Wouldn't he be an Afrikaner-American?

Where is the continent of Afrikan?

Rant digression: Just did a crossword puzzle in which the clue for the word ASIA was "Japan's continent." Last I knew, Japan as a collection of islands, not a continent.

[dogmush]

Japan is considered part of Asia, just like Newfoundland and Labrador are part of North America.

I believe the geology wonks that make that call have some criteria for combining tectonic plate, how long ago the island separated from the mainland, and drift speed. It's been a while since my formal geology class. But some islands are considered part of continents.

Hawaii, for example, is not.