E-Paper
Why most students struggle after 18: Understanding the confidence crisis in higher education
To foster confidence, education must prioritise reflection, experimentation, and understanding oneself amid uncertainties.
For many students, the transition after 18 marks a quiet but profound shift. What was once a structured, predictable environment suddenly becomes open-ended and ambiguous. While this phase is often described as a time of freedom and possibility, it is also when many young adults experience a sharp drop in confidence, clarity, and direction.
Today's world is changing, making it challenging. And at their age, students are changing too, which makes it even more difficult for them to cope. The first reason students struggle today is apparent: the world they are stepping into is changing rapidly. Careers are no longer linear, industries are being reshaped by technology, and traditional markers of success feel increasingly unstable. But the deeper issue is not just that the world is changing...it’s that most students are not equipped to engage with a changing world.
Higher education has traditionally focused on content mastery and performance metrics. Students are trained to absorb information, follow instructions, and optimise for grades. What they are rarely taught is how to navigate uncertainty, make sense of complex choices, or design their way forward when answers are unclear. When familiar structures fall away, many students find themselves without internal tools to guide decisions.
At the same time, students themselves are changing—cognitively, emotionally, and psychologically. Between 18 and the mid-twenties, the brain undergoes significant development, particularly in areas related to self-regulation, judgment, and identity formation. This is a period of becoming, yet most educational systems treat students as if they are already formed. The mismatch creates anxiety, self-doubt, and a sense of being “behind,” even when confusion is developmentally normal.
Another critical gap lies in metacognition- the ability to think about one’s own thinking. Many students are highly capable, yet struggle to understand how they learn, what energises them, or why certain choices feel misaligned. Without reflective practices, they interpret uncertainty as personal failure rather than a natural part of growth. Students are also rarely encouraged to experiment. In a system that rewards correctness and penalises mistakes, young people learn to avoid risk. But in a dynamic world, progress comes through small experiments - trying, learning, adjusting. Without exposure to low-stakes experimentation, students feel paralysed by the pressure to “get it right” the first time.
Finally, many students lack structured opportunities to know themselves better. Self-awareness- of values, strengths, motivations, and constraints is not innate. It must be cultivated. When this inner work is absent, external comparisons take over, eroding confidence further. The confidence crisis after 18 is not a personal failing. It is a systemic gap. As the world becomes more uncertain, education must move beyond preparing students for known paths and instead equip them with the skills to navigate the unknown, with reflection, experimentation, and self-understanding at the core.
Only then can confidence grow...not from certainty, but from capability.
(Author Navyug Mohnot is Stanford-trained Life Design Educator, Certified Coach, and Facilitator. Views are personal.)
