Can Yale teach the secret of happiness in the time of coronavirus? A Singapore minister is finding out
- Education minister Ong Ye Kung is among millions who signed up for the American university’s free course on the ‘science of happiness’
- Psychology professor Laurie Santos attributes her course’s popularity to people looking to ‘improve their mental health during this challenging time’
“It was an eye opener, and helped me understand the challenges students are facing today, which youths of previous generations might not have encountered,” he said.
Ong joined millions of people from more than 160 countries who have signed up for the free course – technically known as “The Science of Well-Being”.
The course is the brainchild of Yale professor of psychology Laurie Santos, who believes the Covid-19 pandemic has helped drive up those figures.
“The online class jumped from 500,000 learners to over 1.8 million learners in just a few weeks during the crisis,” she said. “I think this is because people are trying to find ways to take active steps to improve their mental health during this challenging time.”
Santos first pitched her idea for the course two years ago to Woo-Kyoung Ahn, director of undergraduate studies in psychology at Yale’s School of Medicine, who told The New York Times she was “blown away” by the proposal.
