Week 7: Kelsey Kim

Section: A03

I have often heard older adults say that the current generation of teens/young adults is over protected or emotionally "coddled" while their generation, but I didn't know of the reasoning behind such a trend. For this reason, "The Coddling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt captured my interest. Specifically, the authors focus on the effects of the hyper sensitization of college campuses, the widening definition of micro-aggression, and the growing demand for trigger warnings on young minds.

Where one might perceive trigger warnings as progressive step towards social awareness and the creation of safe spaces on college campuses, the authors argue that this hyper awareness is counter intuitive to the goals of trigger warnings and induces an unhealthy rational in student populations. For example, the Socratic Method of teaching in which a teacher should teach students how to think and not what to think, but trigger warnings and outrage over microaggressions in the classroom stand to limit the content in which a professor can cover. Jeannie Suk from The New Yorker addresses how professors have difficulty teaching raper law due to student pressure to avoid teaching subjects that could subject themselves and classmates to "potential distress." University Administrators in many colleges have resorted to requiring professors to exclude a list of topics from their lectures. But isn't i unproductive to remove parts of a course? In summary, students are demanding protection from exposure to uncomfortable topics that students may have related personal trauma. This pushback in return, limits the scope of the students' educational breadth. I think that the purpose of higher education is to expose students to things that make them uncomfortable because I am a strong believer of the idea that true growth happens outside of someone's comfort zone.

Furthermore, the demand for trigger warnings in hopes of protecting students from potential distress is counterintuitive to healing. The most basic tenets of psychology states that "helping people with anxiety disorders avoid he the things they fear is misguided." In fact, cognitive and behavioral therapy or exposure therapy are the methods used to help people with post-traumatic stress disorder. These methods involve exposing oneself to a stressor and implement rational thinking to re-associate the related danger. To avoid these confrontations, the trauma will never be helped.

The conclusion is that while places of learning should be safe and have awareness that many people carry personal related trauma, it is unhealthy not to address and explore uncomfortable topics.

Question: After learning about the corporatization of universities and the influences of imperialism on academic freedom, how might trigger warnings and the promotion of a hyper-sensitive academic culture contribute to these models of control?

Resources: 

Lukianoff, G., & Haidt, J. (2015, October 17). The Coddling of the American Mind. The Atlantic . Retrieved November 3, 2017, from file:///Users/KelseyKim/Downloads/How%20Trigger%20Warnings%20Are%20Hurting%20Mental%20Health%20on%20Campus%20-%20The%20Atlantic.marked.pdf

[Photograph, Brandeis University Waltham, MA]. (2015, April 29). In W. A. Jacobson (Author). Retrieved November 3, 2017, from https://legalinsurrection.com/2015/04/brandeis-microaggression-protest-accused-of-being-microaggressive/