Sam Suidman and Tim van Zanten – physics and philosophy students in Nijmegen – both ended up at the GP at a certain point. They noticed they were under too much stress. Panic attacks, a rushed feeling, gloom. They often felt lonely – even before corona, perhaps because they did not know that others also suffer from stress, says Sam. It got worse during the lockdowns.
Charlotte Stikkelbroeck and Valerie Lhoëst – psychology and law students in Utrecht – feel pressure to perform almost every day, they say. “Yes, that’s great!” they immediately call out to that question. And their friends too.
Students spoke out in various places last week about the pressure they are under. And the consequences that will have. Last week all Utrecht student associations held a symposium entitled ‘Time to put it on the table’, about the increasing use of alcohol and drugs in student houses. It turned out there are houses where almost everyone regularly takes ecstasy or cocaine. Valerie Lhoëst: „Not at the association, where it is not allowed, but at home, at house parties. The association was closed during the lockdowns.” Ordering is simple: you call a drug courier. And the prices are low.
On Wednesday, Leiden students and Leiden University of Applied Sciences organized a day on students’ mental well-being. In addition to professional experts, Sam Suidman and Sem van der Linden (student geology) who founded ‘Frisse Gedachtes’, an organization dedicated to student welfare, were also present during the pandemic. Students can chat online for free about their concerns and also meet in person for walks and picnics in their city.
Graduation figures on LinkedIn
The pressure comes from all sides. There is the study, which may take less time than in the past and the first year in which 60 to 70 percent of the points must be obtained for a positive Binding Study Advice. If you don’t get that, you have to stop. Sem van der Linden: „Every year that you study longer, means borrowing 10,000 euros for most students. That makes it more difficult to get a mortgage later on.”
There is social media – where young people regularly share beautiful photos of their nightlife, travel, new clothes and dinners with friends. Students nowadays even post their graduation grades on LinkedIn, says student Caro van Goeverden (Psychology in Leiden). “Provided the numbers are high, of course.”
Students can also suffer from the expectation of their parents, who want them to complete a good education. Below that of society, which would demand a shiny resume from everyone. Tim van Zanten in Leiden: “There are medical students who are already working on what they have to do so that they can ten be able to do a certain internship in a certain hospital for a year.”
And yes – students suffer from themselves too. Because you don’t have to post beautiful photos, go out late into the night, use drugs, get high grades and build a shiny resume. You can also exercise or volunteer.
Parents, ask sincerely how your child is doing; don’t get angry if a study doesn’t work out
Students Charlotte Stikkelbroeck (fourth year) and Valerie Lhoëst (fifth year) – who are on the board of the Utrecht student association UVSV this academic year – co-organized the symposium on alcohol and drug use in the Domkerk. They recognize that each student is also responsible for the pressure he or she puts on themselves. But, says Lhoëst, „it is difficult as a freshman to defend yourself against the expectation of others that you participate in drugs. And drugs are everywhere, affordable and normalized. All the raps in the top 20 are about drugs!” Stikkelbroeck: “Of course it’s fun to experiment. But some students use drugs to feel better. Or as a refuge, to forget stress.” They see a direct link between social pressure and increased drug use.
Katrien Karthaus (health law student in Amsterdam) observes that “drugs are simply cheaper than alcohol. A beer costs three euros, a pill four euros. And you go there all night.” Drug use, students say, has completely normalized.
Jolien Dopmeijer of the Trimbos Institute has been researching the well-being of students for twelve years. Last year, Dopmeijer and colleagues also asked students for the first time about their drug and alcohol use. The answers of 28,000 students show that they use drugs and drink more often than other young people. A quarter of the students regularly smoke weed, 23 percent have used ecstasy at some point. Boys more than girls, students in rooms more than students who live with their parents.
51 percent of the students regularly feel gloomy or anxious, as the Trimbos Monitor also revealed. 40 percent regularly feels lonely, during the lockdowns even 80 percent. In 2021, significantly more young men (twenty to thirty years old) took their own life than in other years. 167 last year, against 124 in 2020. Among them are students.
“What are we parents afraid of?”
This generation of students has learned to depend on their performance, notes Dopmeijer, who also teaches at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. According to Dopmeijer, the requirements of the Binding Study Advice could be relaxed to reduce the pressure. “Fine, a BSA where 50 percent of the points must be achieved. But 60 to 70 percent, like now, is very high.” Political The Hague talks about it.
The culture of success is also in the language, says Charlotte Stikkelbroeck, in the form of expectations that seep through everything: „People say that you ‘have to get everything out of your student days’. And ‘everything from yourself’. That you should try to be ‘the best version of yourself’.” It’s all about commitment. drive. Ambition. Goals.
The culture of success is also in the language: ‘getting everything out of your student days’. ‘Being the best version of yourself’
At the same time, this generation of students was brought up quite protected. Didn’t go well at school? Then parents bought tutoring. They attend information evenings – not only for the first year, but also at the college or university. Many parents are at every hockey or football match on weekends.
That way you don’t equip children to deal with difficulties, says Remonstrant pastor Claartje Kruijff in Utrecht, who has three daughters. “I’m not saying I’m doing a good job. But I often think about it. What are we parents so afraid of? That our child misses the boat? Which boat then?”
Moreover, life is not always ‘fixable’. Kruijff: “I think we need to realize that again. People fail and fall sometimes, including children. You can’t take it away, it’s part of it. As a parent, you have to trust that your children will learn from their own mistakes.”
seek help
Performance pressure is nothing new. Morris van Dijk (49) suffered from it thirty years ago when he studied economics in Rotterdam. He felt lonely and acted tough at the same time, he told three hundred students in the Domkerk last week. “The university was large and anonymous.” He often went out – it was the time of gabber and house music – and took drugs to feel good. He became addicted. A student stands up and asks: “How did you order drugs? There were no cell phones then.” The hall laughs.
Van Dijk quickly found a job, a wife, two children. But he started taking more and more drugs to maintain his lifestyle. By age 32, he had lost everything—his job and his family. He has now been clean for 17 years. He will never use it again, he says. His eldest son and ‘bonus daughter’ are now studying in Utrecht and are part of the corps.
The fear of disappointing your parents and not living up to all expectations can have serious consequences, he says later on the phone. His advice to parents: “Keep talking to each other – ask sincerely how your child is. Don’t get angry if a study doesn’t work out.”
He says to students: give yourself the space to be yourself and so do your roommates. If they say ‘no’ to drink and drugs, accept that.” Most importantly, says Van Dijk: seek help if you feel anxious, gloomy or stressed for a long time. “I didn’t do that until I was on the ground.”
Van Dijk sees families where much revolves around making a career and persevering. “It’s a shame in some families when a student is ‘dropped’.” He is now a manager at an addiction clinic. “People put pressure on their children, but also on each other. Such as women who feel that their husbands should show more ambition or take initiative.”
Former members of the Utrechtsch Studenten Corps, whose children are now studying, are also concerned, says Paul Stamsnijder, until recently chairman of the Utrecht Reunists. “There is a cloud of discomfort and shame over the whole of Utrecht regarding the well-being of students and drug use.” A culture change is needed, he says, so that young students, interns, lawyers, doctors and others feel safe in a performance culture. “That applies in all student cities and especially in the fraternities and sororities. They owe that to their position.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of 21 May 2022
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