The
main argument of Greg Lukianoff and Jonathon Haidt’s article “The Coddling of
the American Mind” is that college campuses are going to extremes to keep “campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause
discomfort or give offense”, and this causes a coddling of college
students that is not helpful, but in fact incredibly detrimental (Lukianoff, Haidt). In their article, Lukianoff and Haidt offer
harsh criticisms of this coddling on college campuses to show the future implications
that are caused including hypersensitivity and students being ill-prepared to
face the real world (Graff, 23).
One
of the main points that Lukianoff and Haidt highlight is that college campuses
foster an environment that allows students to be hypersensitive. The authors
talk about “microaggressions” and how they allow for hypersensitivity. The
authors define microaggresions as “small actions or
words that seem on their face to have no malicious intent but are thought of as
a kind of violence” (Lukianoff, Haidt). Those that use these “microaggresions”
are told they need to apologize for whomever they offended. They are put in the
wrong for making a comment or asking a question that one may find to have an
underlying malicious intention. This encourages students to have to think about
the implications that their words might have, and allows for those that are
sensitive to live in a place where they will never be offended. Though I concede that thinking before you speak is important, I still insist that
is impossible to voice any sort of opinion if you are always worrying about how
others will take what you say (65).
Another
point made by Lukianoff and Haidt is that this coddling doesn’t prepare
students to face the real world after college. Lukianoff and Haidt express this
concern by questioning “what are we doing to our
students if we encourage them to develop extra-thin skin just before they leave
the cocoon of adult protection?” (Lukianoff, Haidt). If the
authors are right about the effects of an overly-protective college environment,
then major consequences follow for how these students will fare in an environment
that is full of offensive remarks and biases (Graff, 99). Protecting
students from anything offensive allows students to believe that “Life is dangerous, but adults will do everything in their
power to protect you from harm” (Lukianoff, Haidt). Anyone familiar with the
adult world should agree that there will not always be adults present to
protect you from harm (Graff 73). While those that are working so hard to protect the
students on campus think they are really helping, they really are doing a great
disservice to them.
This article argues the effects of having a
college campus that works tirelessly to protect the emotional state of their
students. Lukianoff and Haidt provide convincing evidence that these extremes
taken are truly detrimental to their students and allow them to enter the adult
world ill-prepared to face words, situations and actions that may cause them
discomfort.
I like that you brought up that thinking before speaking is important, but it's still going to be difficult to avoid offending someone when voicing an opinion - I find myself in this struggle fairly often, because I always want to avoid hurting someone's feelings or avoid confrontation, but if I want to express how I feel, there's always going to be someone who disagrees with me, no matter how much I try to think through what I'm going to say before I say it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said when you talk about it being important to think before you speak, but also that not everything needs to be taken so literally and be taken offense to. It is difficult to find that line though sometimes, and I think that this article addresses that, saying that the line is too thin.
ReplyDeleteyou covered basic and important things from the article. I agree with everyone eles about thinking before speaking that is clearly important. How you address students not being prepared for the real word was excellent.
ReplyDeleteYou connected the point between microagressions and the students who commit them having to apologize for some small yet "heinous" cirme. I really like how you then follow up by saying, "They are put in the wrong for making a comment or asking a question that one may find to have an underlying malicious intention" because this repeated behavior discourages critical thinking which is desired in the working world. Nice response.
ReplyDelete