“The Coddling of the American Mind”

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.