Don’t let Jaan go, says Joep
‘Before I met her, I was lost’
Door Maria Flori
By Maria Flori
Maria Flori
He’s not a dropout. But he knows he easily might have been. The workload of his business administration programme was crushing, the expectations were set high, and his mental health was suffering. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t study, and he couldn’t talk about it.
Until someone noticed Joep Augustus’ plight. His lecturer, Jaan Kets, became his lifeline. She made him feel seen when he was vanishing in plain sight, he says.
So when he heard a month ago that her contract wasn’t being renewed, Joep knew he couldn’t stay silent. He wrote a protest letter to the university’s board of directors. Not just for her, but for what she represents.
Safe space
They met in Kets’ Academic Skills I class. Joep was in the first year of his studies, but he wasn’t doing very well. His grades were dropping. He was zoned out and his life revolved around his sleeping problems. ‘I was struggling and she noticed’, Joep says.
I was struggling and she noticed
With over thirty years of teaching experience, Kets could often sense when something was off and she picked up on Joep’s mental struggles almost immediately. That made it so much easier for him to approach her and discuss how his personal struggles were affecting his life.
Kets created a space where students felt safe being vulnerable. Students didn’t always have to say much. Because she understood the weight of their everyday struggles, many felt safe enough to approach her directly after class. ‘She wasn’t a teacher who would just go by the corpus, but she always taught with professionalism and humanity’, Joep says.
She not only listened, she tried to help him change his situation. ‘What helped me the most is her positive attitude. She really made me believe that things could change, that I could change. It helped me so much’, he says. ‘Before I met her, I was lost.’
Personal guidance
Her strength seems to lie not only in teaching, but in seeing people. She offered exactly the kind of quiet guidance that can keep a student from slipping through the cracks. In the fast-paced academic world there is often little room for the human connection and personal guidance she offered.
But then, last month, he decided to ask the woman who was always checking up on him how she was doing. In the chit-chat that followed, she mentioned she would not be on campus next year, since her contract was ending. ‘She wasn’t really sad when she told me, but she was emotional, I noticed.’ So without a second thought Joep firmly said: ‘I will take care of it.’
Students know who the good teachers are better than any board
Partly, his action is about her. ‘She helped me change my life. I’ve been in a much better place for two and a half months now. That influence? I don’t have words for it’, Joep says.
But it’s also about the bigger picture. If someone like her can be let go so quietly, what does that say about the system? ‘She’s not the only one. I know other good teachers are being let go too. But students know who the good ones are better than any board or director. We’re the ones in class. We feel the impact. I’ve talked to others.’
Letting Kets go, he stresses, would be an enormous loss to the university. ‘I just don’t want to see the university lose valuable people without them even knowing what they have.’
Touched
All that time, Kets herself had no idea about what her student was doing. ‘I was actually quite surprised that he took this initiative.’
She’s also very touched by his decision to send a letter to the board. ‘I think he might have felt seen and heard and wanted to help by doing something like that.’
Kets wasn’t surprised that her position was being cut, though. She was temporarily employed and knew she wouldn’t stay. ‘I just came to help out,’ she says. ‘I’m a passer-by and I’m glad I was able to make a difference.’
Pressure
She loved her job, but she’s also concerned about the pressure that students are under these days. ‘There’s anxiety about jobs, about not being good enough, about falling behind.’
The overwhelming transition from school to university only adds to that. ‘Many students were excellent in high school, and we notice that they can’t keep up with the academic level and expectations,’ she explains.
The disconnect between institutional expectations and student realities worries me
And university offers a lot less human connection and real guidance to help struggling students out. ‘It’s this disconnect between institutional expectations and student realities that worries me the most.’
Even though she doesn’t blame the university for its decision, she fears what the departure of temporary teaching staff will mean for students. ‘For young people, it’s important to have access to proper education’, Kets says. She foresees things will become even harder for students in the years to come.
As for her, yes, of course, she would have liked to stay. ‘Because I really enjoy teaching. But I’m also genuinely grateful that the University of Groningen has given me the chance to end my academic chapter on such a positive note’, she says. She’s already been looking for a new job. ‘That’s life.’
Signal
Joep also understands that the university is under pressure, but he worries that these decisions will lead to an education system that no longer lives up to the high standards of Dutch universities. ‘I hope this letter can serve as a signal: students recognise who truly makes a difference. And Jaan is undeniably one of those people.’
A month after he sent his letter to the board, though, he hasn’t received an answer yet. ‘I’m still waiting, but I’m very interested in what they have to say.’
The UG’s response:
The board of directors didn’t receive the letter because it had been sent to the wrong email address, says spokesperson Anja Hulshof. She continues: ‘The UG doesn’t comment on its agreements with staff out of prudence and for reasons of confidentiality. We respect the student’s concerns and his level of involvement. The faculty will reach out to him about his concerns and how they can help him. But we will not share any important information from our personnel files.’
