Concussions in College: The Real Impact
By Brian Shane
Concussions have been a hot topic in the sports world, particularly football, but they are far more common than in just professional football.
Here on campus, I know five people who have had a concussion while attending Susquehanna. Having a concussion is not a good thing under any circumstances, but for students, it is a massive problem and an academic inconvenience.
Concussions can last for weeks or even months depending on the severity of the injury. This is a major problem for students because even if they are out for one week, they could miss up to 14 class sessions. And that’s just one week. If they were out for three weeks, about 42 classes would be missed.
When you are recovering from a concussion, you are not supposed to do things that can put strain on your brain, such as looking at screens or reading.
With classes often becoming paperless and online, it is becoming increasingly difficult for students suffering from concussions to stay up to date on class materials.
My roommate Denis Lynch, the president of Susquehanna’s rugby team, suffered a concussion during a rugby game his junior year that lasted two months.
Two of his professors recommended he drop their classes because of the severity and length of the concussion. He ended up dropping three classes that semester because of the work required to stay on track for those courses, so he ended up having to retake those classes his senior year.
“It made my senior year more stressful, and I wasn’t able to reach my 150 credits to sit for the CPA exam,” said Lynch.
Lynch got somewhat lucky; he suffered from his concussion early in the semester and was able to tell his professors the circumstances and act accordingly to stay on track for the most part.
But imagine missing two months of classes in the middle or end of the semester. It would be a nightmare.
Recovering from a concussion and keeping up with your academic workload is a very difficult thing to balance and manage as a student or a professor.
Some solutions to help concussed students are prerecorded lectures that the student could listen to at a low volume without looking at the video, test taking in a dark room without other students or loud background noises and having someone in the class take notes for them.
All these options could help a student suffering from a concussion manage the workload better and stay on track.