For many college students, the transition from secondary school to college can be overwhelming. For maritime college students, this transition includes time at sea, which is a whole new world to them. This article sheds a bit of light on the subject and is meant for educators to reflect on how are their student's well-being.
*Disclaimer: This article is not a research article. It is based on several research, news, and other academic articles.
It has long been known that students are under a lot of pressure when they go to college. For some students, the shift in moving away from home and all of a sudden having a lot of adult responsibilities is a major change in their lives. And for students in the maritime field, you can add the element of going to sea, which is an even bigger change in their lives. The reality of being away from family and friends for maybe six months is a significant change in their lives. Maritime educational institutions try their best to prepare students for this change, but for some, the new reality of living at sea for months at a time is too much of a change. Some will carry on their education, others will drop out, and never return to sea. But most of the students will, at some point, feel the pressure, and this will impact their mental well-being.
The topic of students’ mental well-being has been researched for years, and the results are all very similar. Many college students are dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression, and many are feeling overwhelmed by the change in their lives - the change from being a high school student to a college student. Most research finds that the change itself – going from secondary education in an environment the students know to a new environment and a new form of learning – pushes the students into the deep end. For others, the shift in their mental well-being comes later on in their studies. This is seen when the workload is getting too big, when they fail exams, or when life simply happens.
So, what does mental well-being mean for college students? A study done at a university in The Netherlands focused on what mental well-being meant to a group of students. They were interviewed on the topic, and most of the students stated that well-being was a balance between their studies and their private lives. However, how they performed at university had an impact on their personal lives, and vice versa.
If we look at this in a maritime context, this balance for maritime students can be harder, given that some of their studies will be at sea, where the balance between free time and work is a bit harder to define. The cadets, as they are at sea, might feel homesick and are struggling to be on the ship 24/7. Back home, they might have had an active social life, where they participated in many social activities and spent time with their family. For some cadets, this isolation from what is well-known is too much to cope with.
Many maritime educational institutions are aware of their student's well-being and the time they spend at sea, and there is counseling set up to support the students, both at sea and at the college. The question is, how can educators and educational institutions support the students and understand the student’s reality better? Are the students just pampered young people who need to grow up and face the real world? And the question is, what role do the teachers play in this setup?
These are all valid questions, and there is probably not a solid answer to these questions. However, they could be the starting point in the discussion on the maritime student’s well-being. Maybe the students could speak up about this and help create an environment where they feel like they are actually living and not just surviving. This could potentially create better seafarers in the future.