Anuj Patel

Week 7

Section A03

ID: 998882783

                In the article “The Coddling of The American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, Lukainoff and Haidt mention how students feel uncomfortable in college and higher education at times, and that they feel like their freedom is restricted overall (Lukainoff and Haidt, 4). Lukainoff and Haidt mention the effects of having society protect students as long as they can, and mentions many examples of this in this article (Lukainoff and Haidt, 5). For example, Lukainoff and Haidt mention “The flight to safety also happened at school. Dangerous play structures were removed from playgrounds; peanut butter was banned from school lunches.” (Lukainoff and Haidt, 6). Here, Lukainoff and Haidt talk about how schools have to make decisions for students early on in life because many school principles do not believe students know better. Based on my experiences with education, I do agree with Lukainoff and Haidt to some extent, but also do feel like many restrictions on school lunches and other privileges in the school environment should be removed by the time students enter high school. For example, my high school, Tracy High School, had a closed campus policy for freshman and sophomores where they cannot leave campus during the lunch period (Noll, Ahuja, Bretz, Hawkins: Tracy High School Handbook 12). Growing up, I saw how this restriction was unnecessary and created many academic issues within the high school campus as a whole. Often times, I recall as a student that school lunch lines were too long to finish eating during the lunch period, and that school lunches were not nutritious enough to make me feel awake after lunch. This relates to college academic freedom because a policy of choosing your classes in high school and college relate to each other, and students in college have the freedoms they desire. However, I also believe academic freedom should have its limits, and if students go on academic probation, they should be required to attend all classes, and be fined if they do not attend as they are ruining the universities reputation by affecting the drop-out statistics if these students who have low grades end up getting suspended due to a low GPA. (Victoria College Handbook & Planner, 18-19).

(Scorzo 2017)

Works Cited

Lukianoff, G. & Haidt, J. (2015). “The Coddling of the American Mind.” The Atlantic.

Singal, J. (2015). Is There Any Evidence Trigger Warnings Are Actually a Big Deal?

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/12/are-trigger-warnings-actually-widespread-at-all.html

Noll, Jason; Ahuja, Rashmi; Bretz, Paul; Hawkins, Lyndell; Tracy High School Student Handbook: Tracy High School, 2016. Print.

https://www.tracy.k12.ca.us/sites/ths/Documents/THS%20SITE%20SECTION%20HANDBOOK.pdf

Scorzo, Greg. "In Conversation with Joanna Wiliams by Greg Scorzo." CULTURE ON THE OFFENSIVE. N.p., 12 Mar. 2017. Web. 14 May 2017. <http://www.cultureontheoffensive.com/academic-freedom-in-the-age-of-conformity-chatting-with-joanna-williams/>.

Victoria College Disciplinary Committee. Victoria College Handbook & Planner. Houston: Victoria College and the University of Houston – Victoria, 2012-2013. Print.

http://www.victoriacollege.edu/compliancecertificate/student_handbook_2012-2013.pdf