Campus Reform reports that Indiana University is handing out Care Bears to students and hosting a PJ Party. The University of Illinois Chicago’s engineer students are making friendship bracelets and playing with slime, and Everett Community College is giving away Play-Doh to their students amongst other things.
Emily Sturge of Campus Reform says that the so-called "de-stress" events are not preparing their students for the workforce.
"This exam season, universities are coddling their students. They're giving them childish activities, and our university classrooms look a little bit more like a kindergarten birthday party," says Sturge. “Campuses look like daycares, and at the same time, we see more and more Americans questioning the value of a degree."
Sturge said that it makes "perfect sense" why we see so many Americans skeptical about the value of a degree right now.
"The real stress will come to these students when they have trouble finding jobs after graduation and are faced with rejection emails," states Sturge.
However, she said the blame is not just on Generation Z.
"We're talking about a generation here that is leading a military recruitment boom. There are 18-year-olds that are lining up to serve our military, and for the first time in 10 years, all of the military branches have met their recruiting goals because of Generation Z,” says Sturge. “This is also the generation that swung right in the November election. This is the generation turning toward Christianity and Catholicism and conservatism."
She said there are so many positives with Gen Z, and that she has so much faith in young people right now. Instead, she said that this is on the higher education system.
"It's actually the universities that are attempting to infantilize young people with these childish activities. We need to call out the universities for doing this," says Sturge.
