To help youngsters deal with the exacerbating mental health crises, Yale University is offering its most sought-after online course to more than 550 low-income high school students across the United States free of cost.
The course is the online version of “Psychology and the Good Life,” a course introduced by Professor Laurie Santos in 2018 to address the growing mental health needs of students on campus. This online course turned out to be the most popular online course in the history of Yale University.
The new program has been developed in collaboration with the University of Connecticut and the National Education Equity Lab with support from the Arthur M. Blank Foundation.
Apart from being offered access to the lectures by Professor Santos, the students will also be assisted by both a local teacher at their high school and a Yale Teaching Fellow.
According to Yale’s website, the course will be slightly modified and will help students with “scientifically validated strategies for living a more satisfying life and examine what psychological science shows about how to be happier, how to feel less stressed, and how to flourish more. ”
“Our goal is to equip students with scientifically validated strategies for living a more satisfying life, while also creating opportunities for high-striving low-income students and students of color to demonstrate college-readiness,” explained Santos, professor of psychology and head of Silliman College at Yale.
“This is a really challenging time, and that means that students need to learn new strategies to protect their mental health,” said Santos. “Our goal is to give students the tools they need to flourish and feel better. But in addition, we can give students a rigorous Yale educational experience and an opportunity to see that they have what it takes to succeed in college and beyond.”
Mental health is a massive cause of concern among the youngsters today, and such a course will certainly help them cope with the adversities of life. Do you agree?
