I continue to hear from veterans who share their frustration over comments made by their fellow students who question the appropriateness of their military service, ask too probing types of questions about their actions in combat, etc.
Some veterans share the way many deal with this is to withdraw and not put themselves in the position where they may be uncomfortably put in the position where they could be criticized. In some cases PTSD issues have been triggered that resulted in veterans staying out of class.
This really an unfortunate situation because one of the major values of a college education is the interaction, the dialog, the debate that goes on in the academic environment. Like in any personal setting when someone gets too nosy, one strategy is to tell them you're moving forward and that part of your life is over.
What are your experiences? What strategies do you employ to effectively deal with these types of issues? What do you recommend to your fellow veterans?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
JOHN POWERS said in previous section..."One of the only ways to fight this is through education and awareness. A lot of civilian students go to college right out of high school and have no point of reference for real life events. They fear mid term papers not IED's and combat missions.
How veterans can combat this if through education, share their stories, in an open and comfortable setting. They will make the civilian students stronger not only as students but people in general. We have set up "voices of veterans" or "Voices of wartime" and had veterans share their stories to faculty,staff, and students.. I know veterans who dropped out of college because the faculty members disgraced their service and involvement in OIF.
---Educate the faculty, bring in veterans to share their experiences, talk openly.
---Show documentaries "The War Tapes"
---Have them show pictures and videos of Iraq and deployments
---Student Veteran groups on campus can take these problems head on, with an entire group, not just one veteran against a tenured faculty member..
This is the importance of having a student veterans club on campus and a national voice in SVA."
September 25, 2008 8:37 PM
Delete
Post a Comment