Hiding the Grades
What to know: The University of Michigan is hiding the grades of incoming freshmen — for fear that bad grades might pose a threat to the student’s mental well-being.
The TPPF take: The job of a teacher is to lift students up, not lower the bar.
“A student does not possess all the knowledge, experience, or wisdom necessary to determine what he or she needs,” says TPPF’s Kate Bierly. “That is precisely why we have teachers, coaches, mentors, and parents. The therapeutic mindset reverses this relationship. It takes the ordinary pains of growing up—failure, criticism, disappointment—and recasts them as problems to be managed by an institution.”
Moral Injury
What to know: There’s a crisis among our first responders, such as our firefighters — and it’s called “moral injury.”
The TPPF take: Moral injury describes the lasting psychological, emotional, social, behavioral, and spiritual damage that occurs when a person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that violate their deeply held moral beliefs.
“For first responders, the morally injurious event is rarely abstract,” says TPPF’s Derek Cohen. “It’s the child who couldn’t be saved. The order that conflicted with conscience. Moral injury manifests across emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual domains. The intervention that helps them already exists. It is just a matter of making policy choices to address the need.”
Migrant Crisis
What to know: The migrant crisis unfolding in Spain’s Ceuta region is quickly turning into an international incident, as migrants from Morocco continue to try to cross into Spain.
The TPPF take: Spain’s migrant crisis is America’s reminder — and warning.
“Border security is not a finish line that we’ve crossed — it’s an ongoing mission that requires constant vigilance and sustained resources to withstand changing political winds,” says TPPF’s Selene Rodriguez. “The greatest mistake we could make is believing today’s border security is guaranteed tomorrow. Much of the success achieved so far rests on executive authorities that a future administration could choose to weaken, reinterpret, or reverse with the stroke of a pen.”