College students are becoming increasingly emotionally fragile, according to counselors around the country. One major university reports that emergency calls to the school’s counseling center have doubled in the past five years, and many of those calls involve some fairly everyday experiences. One student, for instance, reported being traumatized when her roommate called her a bad name. Two others wanted counseling after they found a mouse in their campus apartment. They also called the police, who came and set a mousetrap for them.

This lack of resiliency has had an impact on students’ grades, too. Some teachers are reluctant to dole out Cs or Bs. Such grades can be traumatic for some students, and they often swoop into the professor’s office either to cry or complain, cutting into the professor’s preparation time.

Some students, of course, need counseling. Rates of mental health among youth have risen dramatically in the past several years; but others, counselors gently suggest, just need to toughen up a little.

“Rates of anxiety and depression among American college students have soared in the past decade, and many more students than in the past come to campus already on medication for such illnesses,” writes Robin Wilson in the Chronicle of Higher Education. “The number of students with suicidal thoughts has risen, as well. Some are dealing with serious issues, such as psychosis, which typically presents itself in young adulthood, just when students are going off to college. Many others, though, are struggling with what campus counselors say are the usual stresses of college life—bad grades, breakups, being on their own for the first time—and they are putting a strain on counseling centers.” (Psychology Today)