Summary Of 'The Coddling Of The American Mind'

As American universities and colleges grow their demographics, diversity and ideas there is a continued and an accelerated debate regarding freedom of speech within these higher education institutions. College campuses are struggling to simultaneously provide a learning environment that is inclusive to traditionally unrepresented students while also providing an environment that allows for ideas to be challenged and debated no matter how offensive or controversial.

In Lukianoff and Haidt’s essay, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” the authors contend today’s college students want to be protected from any words that might harm them. The authors argue doing so harms them in other ways.

“Free Inquiry? Not on Campus” by John Leo is an important essay that shows exactly how important it is to protect people's political views and opinions. In Leo's essay, he elaborates how times have changed and how we live in more of a liberal left-wing society and because of this everyone has to be more politically correct. Leo talks about the social change universities and colleges on how they used to promote free speech, but now are more like the speech police telling us what's opinions you should have on any given subject and any other opinion is considered wrong. Leo gives an example of this and writes “in October 2007, for instance, a student mob stormed a Columbia University stage, shutting down speeches by two members of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group.The students shouted they have no right to

“A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense” (Lukianoff and Haidt 44). Colleges are sheltering their students from words and ideas that students do not like or are found to be offensive. Affecting their education and cognitive skills, scientists are warning colleges to refrain from coddling the students and allowing other viewpoints to be spoken. People are speaking their minds, saying their own views; however, some people are over sensitive and take these viewpoints offensively. In the article “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt successfully argues using rhetorical questions, specific examples, and affective visuals that protecting college students from words and ideas deteriorates their education and mental health.

It is always important to think back to the Buddhist and Stoic beliefs about thinking clearly and working through emotions (Lukianoff and Haidt 6). The college students mentioned in “The Coddling of the American Mind,” need to learn these crucial principles in order to live a life where they can positively overcome discomfort and offendedness. People need not be punished for causing minor emotional inconveniences. Once cognitive

Some of the most concerning effects of trigger warnings pertain to the well-being of students and the academic freedom of professors. In “The Coddling of the American Mind” from The Atlantic, the authors describe how trigger warnings may affect students’ mental health saying, “A campus culture devoted to policing speech and punishing speakers is likely to engender patterns of thought that are surprisingly similar to those long identified by cognitive behavioral therapists as causes of depression and anxiety. The new protectiveness may be teaching students to think pathologically” (Lukianoff and Haidt). The implementation of trigger warnings has been seen as a call for censorship in the name of sensitivity. This suggestion of a change in curriculum is alarming college faculty members across the nation. Professors are fearful of offending students and damaging their reputations. In “Survey

Trigger statements are becoming more and more popular in syllabi, especially on college campuses. These provide students, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder, with a warning about possibly uncomfortable content that could cause a flashback or panic attack. There are several different opinions about trigger warnings. Jenny Jarvie, the author of the article “Trigger Happy,” believes that they have gone too far and are a detriment to society (Jarvie 6). To enhance Jarvie’s point further, in their article “The Coddling of the American Mind” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt explain how trigger warnings cause metal illness on campuses across the country. The opposing view is that they are necessary to have a fulfilling learning

Megan McArdle states “During the time when people are supposed to be learning to face an often hard world as adults, and going through the often uncomfortable process of building their intellectual foundations, they are demanding to be sheltered from anything that might challenge their beliefs or recall unpleasant facts to their mind.” If you are removed from anything that goes against your beliefs, then you won’t be able to adapt to the really world. The real world is all about adapting and learning with many different people that are very different from you. JW Wilson, from the Advanced Learning Institute says in a quote “Some parents and educators believe that a child is like a huge container. To insure the child's success, they think it their job to fill it up with as much information as possible, as quickly as possible. This misconception is damaging the brilliance of millions of our youth." JW Wilson is saying that students need to be sheltered and not be bombarded with a lot of information. In an article it states that “People may have to tolerate the existence of offensive speech in society as a whole, but they do not have to accept its presence in a library funded by their tax dollars” (“Library”). If people aren’t expose to questionable topics before stepping out into college or the real world it will be hard for them to adjust to dealing with offensive speech since it is everywhere: television, the internet, and even the

In the essay ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue trigger warnings are hindering the learning experience in college. While this is true it goes farther than just that, there is an epidemic of a certain mentality spreading across the United States. This mentality is that everyone is deserving of content warnings, whether it be graphic, on paper, or ideas in a discussion everywhere they go. This is a terrible mentality to have, because it breeds an underlying issue. The issue at hand is a psychological issue that can be treated over time. The issue’s severity depends on what the person wants a trigger warning for. In the extreme cases, there are completely unreasonable demands for warnings because it could be too common, there would be too many warnings, while in other cases it is more reasonable but still should not become the norm of society. If trigger warnings become the norm for the world it would cause harm to individuals’ minds and society.

Hanlon’s article focuses on the idea of trigger warning and how they are used as well as viewed on college campuses around college campuses around the United States. Hanlon makes a direct reference to “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt through the article bring out points that he disagrees with. Hanlon believes trigger warnings are not necessary bad when the professor uses them within the right context according to his thesis. He gives examples of when he uses them in his own classroom. In the article Hanlon also breaks down a few sentences from my original article to show how it is framed in a way to match the larger societal voice. The author’s argument as well as the article as a whole has a weak merit.

From reading the title of the article, The Coddling of the American Mind, the reader knows it will be about how we, as a society, have become more overprotective of the human mind. If this article is like the ‘safe space’ article, I would expect it to be about how colleges are creating a place where students are not exposed to certain situations for fear they might offend someone. When college students are not intellectually challenged to voice their opinion about something that upsets them, I think it is counterproductive. The students will not internalize learned behaviors required for handling the real world. I think we will see issues in this article where society will illustrate the adage: ‘make mountains out of molehills.’

​"Education is the movement from darkness to light". In The Closing Of The American Mind, by Allan Bloom, Bloom argues that higher education has been drastically modified over the years and has ruined the psyche of today 's students. Once upon a time Americans dreamed of a better and brighter future, one that could transport them into a perfect utopia of societal bliss. Higher Education was the enthralling stepping stone for happiness. It inspired students to find their voice, while drawing from the past. It was a place where they could make mistakes and change their major once or twice. Today, higher education has become more about the career path and how it is more necessary than before. Higher education is no longer an adventure that allows the student to embark upon a journey of discovery and self-expression as it once was. This is due to the vigorous demands of the general society and how students today are required to maintain focus on a career that is valuable and not adventurous. Basically, we have lost touch with what makes this country so great; the impossible becoming reality. The creativity is gone. The belief that our imagination can grant us happiness if we work hard enough and believe is nonexistent. Higher education has separated the extraordinary and left us with dedicated, intelligent drones working towards the path that pays the most and will always have job security.

Our nation has entered a period where it is becoming increasingly more acceptable to allow censorship for the sake of people’s feelings. This new idea that nothing should be said to cause offense, or distress, to another person is becoming as widespread as to even enter the classrooms of some universities, which now limit what can be discussed (Lukianoff and Haidt, 1). These hypersensitive Americans are beginning to flood into our nation with the belief that we should all care about how people feel about a certain topic. However, the fortunate truth is that we do not and will never care about anyone else’s sensitivity to a topic so much that we limit how express ourselves. The American constitution purposely gives Americans the freedom of speech and expression so that we may cause offense to other people, for the sake of having everyone’s opinions voiced.

The Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom, is a work of art that not only pushes the limits of socially acceptable accusations within our society but also manages to criticize democracy in a formal manner. Prior to reading the book I was informed of possible offensive sections. This only acted as catalyst for me to indulge in the text. I decided to approach the text with an open mind seeing as there are arguments for both sides of any given situation. This not only allowed me to appreciate Bloom's writing style, but also his ability to mock others in a sophisticated way. Most books classified as "political philosophy" generally are very one sided. Bloom is a passionate conservative who had many beliefs against those of my own. Still

Pujol (2016) asserted, “Society demands a moral and political re-thinking of freedom of speech” (p. 250). Free speech does not need to imply that hate speech, personal attacks, or microaggressions are acceptable. There are many preconceived ideas about what free speech entitles a person to say. The classroom is an excellent medium to redefine free speech. Ideally, professors can establish