"But the psychological cloud can remain for a while, like a miasma."
— Castle, Terry (b. 1953)
Author
Date
May 6, 2012
Metaphor
"But the psychological cloud can remain for a while, like a miasma."
Metaphor in Context
One rallies, of course. Professor Freakout soldiers on and the feeling dissipates. The business of the day returns. But the psychological cloud can remain for a while, like a miasma. By asking my students a lot of intrusive and impertinent questions, I concluded afterward, I'd obviously brought this grisly mood on myself. Their charming, fresh-faced, matter-of-fact responses—yes, they were just as busy as their Harvard counterparts, but, yes, they also managed to stay in (surprisingly) close touch with parents (i.e., they loved and were loved in return)—had somehow triggered my orphan-reflex. I had only myself to blame. I chastised myself for having temporarily forgotten that students today—not just those at Harvard or Stanford, of course—live in a new, exciting, exacting "24/7" world, one utterly unlike (mentalité-wise) the one I inhabited as an undergraduate. They seem reasonably content with their lot; in fact appear to take the endless "connectivity" for granted—the networking, blogging, Skyping, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds. And why shouldn't they? Have they ever known anything else? None of it made me happy, but neither was I particularly happy with myself.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Terry Castle, "Don't Pick Up: Why Kids Need to Separate from Their Parents," in The Chronicle of Higher Education (May 6, 2012). <Link to The Chronicle Review>
Date of Entry
05/15/2012
