Bridges and Fault Lines

Bridges and Fault Lines

Empathy and Accountability

Supporting Students in 2025

Dr. Marilyn Brock's avatar
Dr. Marilyn Brock
Aug 30, 2025
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One of the recurring themes in my own reflections on how to best teach students – as well as in conversations at conferences – is the question of how to balance empathy/compassion and accountability for our students.

It has now been over five years since the COVID pandemic first started. Even now, we still see reasonable precautions related to this virus that still permeates the globe and poses a risk to many immunocompromised individuals. This means that most of the students in university classrooms were in high school during a time when, by necessity, they lost access to in-person events and many of the normal expectations of school.

Simultaneously, Gen Z is facing more mental health challenges than any preceding generation,[1] and they are coming of age in a heavily uncertain and expensive world.

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