Week 7 - Chouatong Mouavangsou - A02

ASA 002 Week 7

            In the article written by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, they have a discussion about whether or not the “policing” of words and the coddling of university students’ emotions are actually effective in creative an empowering learning environment. They find that through focusing on microaggressions and trigger warnings, students create an environment in which they only listen to what they want to rather than listening other points of view. This as Lukianoff and Haidt states, does not prepare the students for the real world because out there, there will be conflicting ideas and people will say things that may hurt. Instead of coddling the students, they imply that the university should try to stray away from trigger warnings and focus on the actual content of the lesson itself. As I read this article, I agree with various points that Lukianoff and Haidt brings up due to how students who feel as if they are offended disrupt the learning environment and ruin it for everyone else. They stop the lesson and ask the instructor to give what they want and if the student does not receive it, they pout and ruin the lecture for the rest of the students. I believe that creating “safe spaces” for the students in the university does not help prepare anyone rather, it only perpetuates the idea that students are fragile and they need to be safeguarded by outside threats. I find the idea of doing so only continues the kind of coddling care students received back in high school in which students had to be “protected” and doing this in a university environment only continues this idea that students needs to be constantly protected and watched because they are fragile and innocent beings.

Question: Why is it that we have created a culture in which we coddle college students so much?

Reference:

1. N. (2015, January 18). #Equality. Retrieved May 14, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM-HJT8_esM

2. Lukianoff, G. L., & Haidt, J. (2015, November 20). The Coddling of the American Mind. Retrieved May 14, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/