The experience that an individual has during his or her college years, varies greatly depending on the goals that individual plans to achieve. Simultaneously many books offer techniques in which they promise to reveal the secrets of success in college; yet, these guides focus mainly on getting high grades. On the other hand, in his book What The Best College Students Do, Ken Bain gather a compilation of interviews and research-backed concepts to give the reader an idea of the type of behavior and approaches, which should optimize the readers college experience and aid in later life. Sprinkled intermittently among the main concepts are explanations of human behavior, which serve to support the rational of how the concepts were created. To complement the research, Bain provides interviews with individuals who exemplify the concepts of the best college students. The main concepts that make “the best college students” according to Bain are: deep learning, the mindset that intelligence can be improved, embracing failure, and practice self-kindness. The concept of self-kindness is the base upon which the rest of the techniques outlined rest. Further research on self-kindness illuminates why it is far superior to self-esteem and why it is a very important concept for college students to practice. Despite finding many useful techniques for college students, among them self-kindness, and having a flexible view on intelligence; Bain fails to pay proper attention to the importance of social organizations and the stress that a student could undergo by being separated from their family member (aka separation anxiety disorder).
Self-Kindness
Dr. Kristin D. Neff an Associate Professor in Human Development at the University of Texas Austin deve...
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...ould be conducted to find if there is a correlation between self-kindness and Separation Anxiety Disorder.
Works Cited
Bain, Ken. What the Best College Students Do. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2012. Print.
"Greek Life." - SLD. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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Neff, Kristin D. "Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, And Well-Being." Social & Personality Psychology Compass 5.1 (2011): 1-12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Reitman, Janet. "Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth's Hazing Abuses." Rolling Stone. N.p., 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Seligman, Laura D., and Lisa A. Wuyek. "Correlates Of Separation Anxiety Symptoms Among First-Semester College Students: An Exploratory Study." Journal Of Psychology 141.2 (2007): 135-145. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
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Schuster, C. S., and Ashburn, S. S., (1980). The Process of Human Development: A Holistic Approach. Boston: Little, Brown and Company Inc.
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