Pressures leading to mental health problems for uni students

This is a background feature I wrote for a university assignment during my second year of study.  The information was gathered on May 8, 2013, and the original story was published in the Brisbane Times the same day (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/uni-reform-to-hurt-students-20130507-2j62q.html).

IN MANY ways, the life of a university student is more stressful today than it has ever been in the past, and experts are worried the increasing pressures mounting on young people are affecting their mental health. 

With government funding cuts to universities just around the corner and the continuing pressures on students to find employment to make ends meet, students must learn how to strike the right balance between their studies and a social life.

CEO of Beyondblue Kate Carnell said university students were being pulled between the need to work and survive and the necessity of a social life.

“For lots of uni students, it produces an anxiety and even depression in certain circumstances,” Ms Carnell said.

“Fundamentally, you need to be able to manage your life to be able to keep an equilibrium.”

The concerns came after a Universities Australia survey found 80 per cent of full-time undergraduates had to find employment to support themselves through their degree, with students working an average 16 hours per week while also balancing their studies.

The majority of students surveyed said their employment affected their study performance, with a third saying they regularly skipped classes in order to work.

Ms Carnell said many university students feel they do not have a choice in the matter and need to work to support themselves.

“They’re not just working so they can go out and party on Saturday night,” Ms Carnell said.

“They’re working to live, to pay the rent, along with an often quite significant university workload.

“There’s so many more young people at university now, and I think as more and more young people are given an opportunity to go to university, their families are not in a position to support them.”

But former registrar for Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Brian Waters said students still had to deal with pressures back when he held the position from 1976 to 1995.

“I think in many ways it was more difficult in those days than what it is now because of the number of lecture hours people had to attend compulsorily, rather than how it seems to be these days where the number of formal lecture hours doesn’t seem to be as much,” Mr Waters said.

“Students also have the ability to watch lectures online and do those sorts of things rather than have it so structured and on a particular campus.

“That gives people a bit more of a chance to get some part-time employment.”

Mr Waters said the pressures placed on students were certainly evident during his time as registrar.

“We had a counselling unit, and certainly they had a number of people who were very stressed out and needed advice on how to order their days and weeks to accommodate their studies and their need to earn money,” he said.

But Mr Waters acknowledged that students faced added pressures today, mentioning the HECS contributions scheme, which was introduced during his post as registrar.

“That put an impost onto students or their parents,” Mr Waters said.

“It meant a difficult time for some of them in terms of having to pay those debts off, which is even more reason why they need to get income as early as they can.”

Mr Waters said students had to deal with more financial burdens today because more were living out of home.

“There’s much more rental accommodation that has become available for students that they can afford at a pinch, but that of course keeps the pressure on them to earn money to live in that way,” Mr Waters said.

Ms Carnell said while a lot of university students were employed when she studied, most students also lived at home.

“We weren’t in a position to have to actually support ourselves and pay the rent,” Ms Carnell said.

“More people are getting to go to uni, and that’s really good.

“But the down side is that a lot of those people are doing so without family support and are having to literally support themselves through university.”

Such pressures have led to the formation of websites like The Desk (www.thedesk.org.au), which Ms Carnell said was put together with research from QUT and the University of Queensland and funded by Beyondblue.

“It’s a site that helps and supports university students with resilience and managing their mental health,” Ms Carnell said.

She said the site was an example of how students could find help online to improve their wellbeing and study more effectively.

“What we’ve got to make sure we do is support young people at university to get that work-life balance right.”

Shopping centre redevelopment a strain on retailers

This is a news story I wrote during the first year of my journalism degree.  The information was gathered in June 2012. 

RETAILERS have expressed concerns over the Indooroopilly shopping centre redevelopment, now three months into construction, with store closures and relocations affecting sales and causing confusion amongst customers.

The closure of a car park and an entire section of the shopping centre have disrupted the usual traffic flow, deterring customers away from stores nearest the construction, according to retailers.

Roger David store manager Aaron Chappell said he has experienced a downturn in sales since construction began due to a barrier being erected next to his store.

“When people see boards, they’re not going to come down this way, they’re going to go elsewhere,” he said.

Commenting on whether the redevelopment is a good move for existing retailers, Amart All Sports assistant manager Danielle Oakeshott said the relocation of her store, as well as the closure of others, has scared many customers away.

“A lot of people still don’t even know we’re here.  We get a lot of customers come in saying they thought we were closed,” she said.

Marketing manager Paula Kelly said the centre is working closely with all retailers to ensure minimal disruption to their daily business.

“The decision to make this significant investment is a vote of confidence in Indooroopilly shopping centre, which has traded consistently well despite subdued retailing conditions,” she said.

Yet many retailers admitted they are still doing it tough.

Sarah Webster, store manager of Rodney Clarke, acknowledged that there is a certain amount of spin that goes on in the area, saying: “I’m not sure that Indooroopilly can claim what they’ve claimed.”

“They don’t want people to think that we’re suffering, but a lot of managers will probably tell you that we are suffering.”

Despite concerns for the short-term impacts during construction, most retailers believe the redevelopment will benefit all stores when completed.

Ms Webster said the redevelopment would be fantastic for stores in the long run, despite many retailers losing centre traffic during the construction phase.

“The development is going to bring our shopping centre into the 21st century,” she said.

The redevelopment, which is scheduled to be completed by mid 2014, will cost an estimated $450 million, and will include an additional 120 specialty stores, a David Jones department store and a fresh food area.

Plans also include a further 900 car parks, significant upgrades to external facades and a facelift for existing retail stores.

Bright future for rising activist

This is a profile I wrote on politician and social activist Jake Schoermer for a university assignment.  The work has been published with the permission of Mr Schoermer.  

On the surface, there are signs pointing to the fact that Jake Schoermer is not your average university student: the absence of a television, issues of The Monthly magazine on the coffee table, a whiteboard sitting above his desk littered with ideas for the upcoming Greens campaign.

Hanging above Schoermer’s bed is a quote that poignantly captures what he is all about: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”.

At just 22, Schoermer possesses an energetic passion for the big issues facing our world, and he’s using that passion to fight for the causes he believes in and ultimately make the world a better place.

To describe Schoermer as a university student would be technically accurate – he studies IT and Arts at the University of Queensland – but this only captures a very small portion of what he does.

Just five years out of high school, he has gradually built a public profile in his community as both a politician and a social activist.

Schoermer has already run in the 2012 Queensland state election as a Greens candidate, participated in social justice campaigns, including last year’s UQ student union corruption debacle, and is now setting his sights on establishing a western branch of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC).

“I’m not the sort of Green who would chain myself to a tree to stop it from being cut down, but I happen to think that cutting down a 10,000 year-old forest for a bit of timber is a bit of a waste,” says Schoermer, speaking from his apartment in St Lucia.

But building a career in politics was not always the obvious career choice for Schoermer.

His other interest lies in the IT field where he does freelance web design, including his current project of co-founding a charity donation website.

“The first time he was introduced to computers was when he was 11 months old,” Schoermer’s mother, Edwina, says.

“He used to sit on his dad’s knee and he used to just play with the keys.  It all started from there.”

After graduating from Year 12 at West Moreton Anglican College in Ipswich, Schoermer took a gap year and worked at a local computer shop.

“That got a bit monotonous,” says Schoermer.

“It just felt like, where would that lead?  I could just sort of sit there for the next 20 years.”

Schoermer recounted his observations of the 2010 federal election – in particular the Labor party’s right-swing policy shifts on climate change and asylum seekers – as his wake-up call.

“At that point, I just felt I couldn’t not do something about that so I joined the Greens,” he says.

But launching a political career and working as a social activist while studying full-time has not been without its challenges.

Edwina said she was particularly concerned during the 2012 election campaign, which forced Schoermer to drop a university subject and fail another.

“The campaign was very stressful; he just wasn’t coping; he wasn’t getting enough rest; he was waking up tired,” she says.

“Then his brain would kick in the minute he opened his eyes and it would all be about campaigning and rushing out there and doing what he had to do.”

Despite the Greens advocating for policies dissimilar to her own political views, Edwina said she supported her son and was proud of him.

However, she expressed concern for her son’s constant exposure to what is typically an adult-run profession.

“The Greens take a lot of his time up.  He goes to a lot of their meetings and he doesn’t have enough quality time of someone his age going off and just enjoying himself,” she says.

“I’ve found as Jake’s got older, if he’s not talking computers or the political scene, if you just want to have a normal conversation then he gets a bit lost.”

It’s a concern that is not shared by Schoermer.

“A lot of my activist things have social events, so it might be a movie night or you have a meeting and then everyone goes out for dinner, or you stay up until two o’clock in the morning working on a banner with people.”

However, he admits he struggles with time-management during uni semesters, claiming he never sleeps enough.

“Some nights I’ll stay up until three in the morning and have to be up at seven,” he says.

“But I try to have one morning a week when I don’t have to do anything and that way I can sleep in and recuperate.”

It was during the election campaign that Edwina advised her son to concentrate on his studies, saying he had his whole life to focus on politics.

But Schoermer understands the importance of the here and now.

“Fifteen years from now I might be elected, but if we hadn’t done anything about climate change then what would be the point?” he asks.

AYCC Queensland coordinator Frederick Stark said Schoermer’s eagerness to tackle the big issues was typical of people wanting to use their skills to “create good in the world”.

“When you’re passionate about helping people and solving environmental problems, you kind of want to do it all the time, you don’t like saying ‘no’,” says Stark.

Another person who understands the role youth can play in shaping the political landscape is federal Greens candidate and Schoermer’s mentor Charles Worringham.

“I have always been a strong advocate for young people putting their hand up for political office,” says Worringham.

“If you’re 22 you won’t have had the same opportunity to learn the ropes, but that’s really compensated for by people’s passion and clear-headed thinking about what the important issues are.”

Worringham described Schoermer as a very thoughtful and enthusiastic person, mentioning his volunteered assistance at last year’s Victorian by-election campaign as further evidence of his passion.

“If he chooses to stay in this public sphere and remain active – and I’m quite sure he will – I think you’ll be seeing him on the stage much more prominently in the future,” says Worringham.

According to Schoermer, his youth and inexperience has not hindered his ability to effectively campaign in the community.

“I try and do my homework as much as possible on things that I’m talking about,” he says.

“I don’t want to go out there and argue for things that I don’t believe in.”

Whether he’s up until 11pm the night before an election making green cookies, or doing third-year subjects in his first year because he simply didn’t want to wait, Schoermer’s independence and clear ideas about where he stands morally is a striking feature that distinguishes him from the pack.

“He’s at that age where he’s got to make his own decisions,” Edwina says.

“He’ll ring me up sometimes and want to know what I think, and I’ll tell him, but I know at the end of the day he’s going to do what he wants because that’s Jake.”

Review: Nothing But the Truth

Director: Rod Lurie

Screenplay: Rod Lurie

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Vera Farmiga, Matt Dillon, David Schwimmer, Alan Alda

As a journalism student, Nothing But the Truth held particular relevance for me.  I’m currently taking a course entitled Journalism Ethics and Issues, which focuses on educating aspiring journalists how to behave when faced with moral and ethical dilemmas that are inevitably going to arise once working in the industry.  This film examines an extreme (albeit fictional) case involving a journalist who is thrown into jail after being found guilty of contempt of court – that is, she refuses to disclose her source based on her journalism (and human) morals of confidentiality.  It’s a scenario that has been depicted in movies before and, unfortunately, there are plenty of real-life examples.  From what I understand, this one is based loosely on the case of journalist Judith Miller who, in 2005, was found in contempt of court for failing to name the source who leaked the identity of a CIA agent. 

It’s the sort of film that leaves the viewer rooting for the protagonist to win, and furious at the injustice of the bureaucratic machine that is the government.  Kate Beckinsale portrays journalist Rachel Armstrong, and we follow her 360-day period in jail as she watches her world crumble around her – from her son’s gradual fading from her life to her husband’s (David Schwimmer) abandonment for another woman.  Yet through all of that, Rachel stands by her journalistic principles, choosing to sacrifice her personal circumstances to uphold her loyalty to her source and field of work.

It’s always nice when we get a film that portrays journalism in a positive light.  Alan Alda’s character, Ms Armstrong’s lawyer, summarises it best when he says, “Somewhere along the way, the press went from being the white knight to being the dragon”.  It’s not often that we view the media as a sympathetic, good-intending function to our society.  People no longer differentiate between the tabloids and the quality newspapers, or the shock-jock radio hosts and the trained reporters.  And it’s a shame that this film didn’t get a theatrical release (the studio filed for bankruptcy), because it would do a lot of people the world of good to see this other side of the media and perhaps gain a little more understanding for what the hard-hitting journalists do to uphold our democracy, keep those in authority to account and maintain the functioning of the Fourth Estate.  (Okay, this film is an extreme case that most journalists will never encounter, and things have been exaggerated … but you get the point.)           

And before this review turns into an article packed with completely bias praise for journalists, I’ll stop.  But after sitting through lectures over the past few weeks hearing people talk about how we, as potential journalists, are in charge of shaping the future of journalism standards, it was nice to watch a film that portrayed an example of this so intelligently.  But besides all that, Nothing But the Truth is a totally compelling, well-scripted film with convincing characters that are portrayed by a fine cast, and poses just enough questions to keep you on your toes. 

As a final thought, what’s most intriguing is that the audience also remains ignorant of the journalist’s primary source throughout the entire film, at least until the final few moments.  The ending delivers a twist that was strong enough to make me smile and think, “Of course…”   

NBN a political game

This is a news story I wrote during the first year of my journalism degree.  The information was gathered in September 2012. 

THE Federal Government has been called to re-prioritise the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), with no plans for work to commence in some electorates currently suffering from poor Internet connections.

Member for Ryan Jane Prentice said residents in her LNP-held electorate have been sacrificed for Labor seats, despite the area currently in desperate need of a broadband upgrade.

“To the extent that this network is rolled out, it should at least be targeting areas on the basis of their need for upgraded broadband, not to assist with the Labor Government’s political survival,” Mrs Prentice said.

According to Telstra coverage maps, areas of the Ryan electorate are currently connected to Internet speeds just one level above Telstra’s most basic network, yet work on the NBN is so far absent from the rollout schedule.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring Labor-held Ipswich region, whose current Internet service operates up to four times faster, will benefit from the NBN within three years.

PHOTO: A Telstra broadband map comparing Internet coverage for parts of Ryan electorate (including Moggill and Bellbowrie) to neighbouring Ipswich region. (Click to enlarge)

According to Mrs Prentice, the sub-standard network currently operating in her electorate is deterring people from moving to the area.

“Many of these people are small business owners who want to relocate to our electorate but are now reconsidering as they cannot run their businesses without reliable, high-speed broadband,” Mrs Prentice said.

“Of significant concern is that Telstra perceives the rollout of the NBN to be a disincentive to upgrade their current network.”

Business owner David Fisher from DA&PM Fisher Services said while the poor Internet coverage did not impact his business, he knew of customers from the Ryan electorate who were struggling to make their businesses work.

“Customers who are everything from surgeons to people with businesses and contacts internationally are trying to manage on the back of an unreliable broadband connection,” Mr Fisher said.

“There are a few pockets around Brookfield, Pullenvale and Pinjarra Hills where there’s virtually no broadband available.

“I personally find it pretty laughable that an outer suburb of a capital city of a developed country can’t get a respectable broadband connection for a large portion of people.”

But NBN Advisor Andy Byrne rejected claims of the government favouring Labor electorates as “blatantly untrue”, saying the rollout is largely determined by NBN Co.

“The schedule of the rollout is based largely on the availability of existing infrastructure, including the location of points of interconnect,” Mr Byrne said.

He said the government had given NBN Co. “broad directions” for prioritising the rollout in order to achieve even distribution between states, rural and metropolitan areas.

According to Mr Byrne, the government’s main priority is to ensure the NBN is built as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible.

But Ryan residents are becoming increasingly frustrated with the sub-standard Internet network.

Councilor for the Pullenvale Ward Margaret de Wit said she often received complaints from residents about poor Internet speeds.

“I think there is a lot of scepticism in this community about the whole project because of the massive cost, the blowouts and the time it is taking to see any action,” Ms de Wit said.

Mr Byrne said the government understands the importance of high-speed Internet and all Australians will eventually have access to the NBN.

“This is the largest infrastructure project in the nation’s history.  Unfortunately, not everyone can be first.”

Review: Community 313 – ‘Digital Exploration of Interior Design’

This week’s episode saw the continued disintegration of the inseparable Troy and Abed (or as they claimed in 304, ‘Trobed’). We saw the start of this fallout last week when Troy began to notice their differences, an inevitable stage that happens in every friendship when it reaches a certain point of familiarity. It was a clever move from the writers to allocate Vice Dean Laybourne (John Goodman) as the driving wedge between them, and even more clever to utilise the frequently-referenced Inspector Spacetime as a metaphor for Troy and Abed’s supposedly unbalanced relationship. As far as I’m concerned, this simmering rift between the show’s most dynamic duo is good for two reasons: firstly, Troy and Abed’s friendship will emerge as more believable and fleshed-out when the fight inevitably ends, and secondly, we get to see an awesome blanket and pillow war.

For me, the most fascinating (though not necessarily funny) aspect of tonight’s episode was the Britta/Subway storyline, with Subway referring to a man’s name. (Confused? Watch the episode.) Initially, this storyline felt flat, but then I realised it was actually a complete re-enactment of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which Britta and Subway discuss earlier in the episode. If I’m not mistaken, Britta’s ‘forbidden’ relationship with Subway mirrors Winston and Julia’s rebellion against the Party in the novel. Britta, going against her core values and morals, eventually submits to her human instincts and begins a secret love affair. Shirley and Pierce represent both the authoritative Party and O’Brian’s character who, for those of you not familiar with Nineteen Eighty-Four, tricks Winston and Julia into openly committing an act against the Party. In this case, Shirley and Pierce secretly bug Britta’s backpack in order to expose the fact that she has genuinely fallen for the prohibited Subway, leading them to make an arrest. In the book, Winston is brainwashed to forget Julia and completely embrace the Party’s ideologies. This tragic ending is echoed when Subway (played by a different actor to drive home the idea that he is a changed person) no longer feels any emotional connection to Britta.

That’s my take on it anyway. Even if I’m wrong, I thought the Nineteen Eighty-Four interpretation seemed far more interesting than Britta merely being opposed to corporate giants that infringe her rights. It’s an aspect of her character that, whilst entertaining, has been played out before.

There was also a third storyline which I felt could have been dropped, mostly because it was just a continuation of last week’s plot involving Jeff coming to terms with his narcissistic qualities. But instead of Jeff taking pills that inflate his ego, this time it’s the possibility that somebody may have died believing him to be an inconsiderate person. I guess it was a nice character-defining moment (though more for Annie, as it turned out), but the development probably won’t have any impact on Jeff’s behaviour in future episodes.

I had high hopes for this episode, mostly due to the fact that it was written by Chris McKenna, who delivered such classic episodes as “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” and “Remedial Chaos Theory”. On the whole, this week’s instalment did not disappoint. It involved three very different storylines that still managed to flow together relatively well. Above all, it laid the groundwork for next week’s “Pillows and Blankets”, which will see the feud between Troy and Abed finally come to a head.

Review: The Hunger Games

Director: Gary Ross

Screenplay: Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson 

It’s been more than a year since I read Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, though the plot was still fresh in my mind prior to seeing the film.  That is mostly due to the book having such an intriguing and gripping premise: in a post-apocalyptic America, 24 children are selected each year to participate in a televised game of kill-or-be-killed, known as the Hunger Games.  It’s as simple as that. 

Well, mostly.  When 12-year-old Primrose Everdeen is selected to participate in the annual Hunger Games, her sister, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to replace her as District 12’s tribute.  Katniss, along with her fellow male tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) is whisked away to the country’s Capitol, where she is mentored and trained for the Games.  The point of the Hunger Games is to remind the people of the Capitol’s authority in order to prevent another uprising.  But as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) acknowledges, the only thing more powerful than fear is hope.  Consequently, the single tribute left standing by the Games’ conclusion brings food and prosperity to their district, spreading hope for the nation’s onlooking viewers.         

Everything about the book’s construction positions the reader to want to know more, from each chapter ending with a cliff-hanger to Collins’ use of short, sharp sentences.  For these reasons, as well as the fact that the story is narrated from a first-person perspective, it’s very easy to get sucked into the excitement and tension of the plot.  Therefore, I was curious as to how the filmmakers would translate these narrative devices to the film medium in order to create the same level of suspense.

Thankfully, the film succeeded on most levels.  I guess it’s a lot easier to create tension in a film than it is in a book; you have the visual and audio elements to play with.  And with a score by James Newton Howard combined with some dizzying camera work, there is not a lot of downtime in this film.  Unfortunately, the filmmakers went slightly overboard with the use of the handheld camera – I’m all for the feeling of raw momentum during moments of battle, but it felt out of place during scenes that merely depicted two people talking.  The jerky camerawork also became frustrating when long shots of the Capitol, detailing some epic set pieces, were cut short.  As a result, I felt that we never got to actually see the world of Panem for more than a few seconds at a time, something that will hopefully be rectified in the sequels. 

Nevertheless, Jennifer Lawrence proved to be a brilliant casting choice, as she not once allowed her character to appear weak (which is, after all, why Katniss is so compelling in the books).  The wealth and materialistic lifestyle of the Capitol’s aristocratic citizens is portrayed effectively, namely through some bizarre costume designs and a particularly telling scene showing two young children having a playful sword fight.  Other casting highlights included Elizabeth Banks as the delusional yet harmless Effie Trinket and Stanley Tucci as the Games host Caesar Flickerman.   

As Katniss progresses through the Games, the death toll rises, as does the level of violence depicted in the film.  The first hour feels quite safe, as it merely presents the lead-up to Katniss’s experience in the Hunger Games.  There’s a difference between hearing about kids killing kids and actually seeing it.  But once we do see it, the mood of the film shifts quite dramatically.  Okay, they could have shown a lot more and boosted the rating up a notch, but that would have created a marketing nightmare for the film studio.  Yet no matter how the filmmakers decided to convey the horrific events of the Hunger Games, the film was always going to be confronting for the younger viewers (or indeed anybody who finds the idea of children killing children disturbing).  I felt particularly uncomfortable during a scene depicting some nasty poisonous wasps, known as Tracker Jackers.  There’s just something about watching a pair of teenagers get stung to death that makes me cringe.    

With two films yet to be released (or possibly three, if rumours of the last book being split are to be believed), there’s no doubt that The Hunger Games will become the next big franchise.  It has already broken box office records, and that’s saying something for a film that is not a sequel.  Unfortunately, I did not enjoy books two and three as much as the first, namely because of their repetitive plots and the direction in which Collins took the character relationships.  Nevertheless, if the first film is any indication, the remaining instalments will be faithful and worthy adaptations to this great series.