In the bad-old days of college teaching, especially in technical subjects, professors would stand before a classroom of freshmen and say, “Look to the right, look to the left. One of them will not graduate.” The idea was fear of failure would motivate students to do whatever it takes to stay above water academically. But these days more professors take a more caring approach to teaching—a compassionate response to the collective trauma driven by the COVID pandemic and other challenges facing today’s college students
