Trigger Warnings

After my first semester in college, I was left with a new and exciting learning experience. I engaged in discussions on controversial topics and was exposed to various reading and media material which opened me up to new perspectives. In classrooms, questions about politics, abuse, drugs, death, relationships, religion, and ethics were discussed without restrictions. I enjoyed this learning experience on the most part due to the professors announcing the topics to be discussed the first day of classes. Being fresh out of high school, such a practice relieved the transition into a new academic environment. However, I cannot solely rely on my personal experience when deciding on where to stand regarding the controversy that has students, parents, educators, and administrators in disagreement. In my research I plan to explore the controversy over the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces by analyzing both sides of the debate. My goal is to come to a conclusion concerning the proper use of trigger warnings and safe spaces; specifically, when should trigger warnings be given, where is the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces appropriate, and most importantly, what subjects should students be warned or protected from. I

The issuing of trigger warnings, according to the American Association of Professors, can be counterproductive. “The voluntary use of trigger warnings…assume that individuals will respond negatively to certain content,” which leads to reducing students to vulnerable victims rather than full participants in class discussions or debates. Trigger warnings are thus inadequate, “reasonable accommodations should be done on individual basis” rather than exposing students to trigger warnings that might affect how they view a material that has educational value.

She then goes to point out that is the reason she uses trigger warnings. She also makes a point that trigger warnings can only be beneficial. It takes minimal effort to point out that there may be triggering material in a lecture or a reading. For the students who haven’t experienced some kind of trauma, they may either brush the warning off, or it may make them realize other students may find the material triggering and “sensitize”

“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.

The topic of trigger warnings have been a hot topic amongst people. Trigger warnings are a warning or a statement that the following material or phrases could be harmful to the psyche of certain individuals about to experience the material. This spans across the average worker to professors at universities. This topic rose from about 2011 on the internet and has reached a high to where people are discussing their thoughts on the matter. Everyone has a stance on whether trigger warnings should be issued when discussing a potential topic that could cause distress for a student or anyone in a class. With the rise of mental health disorders being diagnosed in students, some seek professional help or a better diagnosis because of there helpfulness. Students have been at odds sometimes because of trigger warnings. The debate on whether or not to implicate them in a classroom setting is the main topic of the argument.

Trigger warnings are hurting mental health on campus according to Lukianoff and Haidt. For instance, Lukianoff and Haidt say that critical thinking involves students to question their own unexamined beliefs and sometimes the questioning can lead to discomfort, but this leads a way to understand. Clearly, we do not like to be put in awkward situations, but in reality, that is what has to be done, in order to learn and experience. Additionally, “Students with PTSD should of course get treatment, but they should not try to avoid normal life, with its many opportunities

One article, written by Jenny Jarvie, titled “Trigger Happy: The Trigger Warning has Spread from Blogs to College Classes. Can it be Stopped?” discusses the problem with trigger warnings on college campuses. Jarvie explains that trigger warnings on the internet have been around for years as a way to prepare for potentially disturbing subjects but are now becoming more universal. Recently, a group of students at the University of California, Santa Barbara passes a resolution imploring administrators to include mandatory content warnings in potentially offensive syllabi (Jarvis, 2015). The reason for wanting the use of trigger warnings for these students is to prevent the

Sally attended Joliet Junior College and took a general psychology class. One day when she attended her psychology class, her professor warned students of a topic that there were going to talk about in class which was how abuse can damage an individual’s mental state. Sally has been through abuse in her past and is uncomfortable with that certain topic, so she left class because she was alerted to the topic. Ultimately, she didn’t want to revisit her past of abuse. This is considered a trigger warning, in which professors give a warning about topics that they will discuss that can lead to some sort of discomfort for students. Trigger warnings are used on campuses that are considered a safe space. The term safe space is defined as an environment where students can feel like themselves and are not exposed to any harm physically or mentally (Google). Various of colleges/universities have safe spaces so that their students don’t have to go through discrimination of sorts or any harm. Safe spaces are good for students, but there are negative outcomes from it, such as it doesn’t let individuals who suffer and have trauma cope with what happened to them. Even though are negative outcomes from safe spaces, there are positive results that impact Millennials such as a decrease in anxiety and prevention of hate speech.

The most recent controversy on American college campuses today, is whether colleges should adopt trigger warnings as a way to protect students from topics of discussion or ideas that may cause them some level of discomfort for instance, a lecture about rape may disturb a student who may have been raped in their earlier life causing the student great emotional disstress. Even though trigger warnings save student from reliving a delicate past; trigger warning should not be added to college classes because students at a college level should be mentally prepared to handle harsh academic course work that may trigger their own difficult past. Trigger warnings blind ones vision to learn the truth about topics that contain disturbing truths, taking

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 warnings are used to alert people of topics that may cause emotional stress or bring back a past trauma. They are usually seen before showing graphic material such as rape, abuse, violence, war, etc. so that people sensitive to the material can refrain from watching. Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt discuss the negative effects trigger warnings seem to be having on college campuses and the mental health of students in their article, “The Coddling of the American Mind”, going into detail about how avoiding certain subject material because it “offends” some people creates a poor learning environment and restricts thinking. Aaron Hanlon responds to this article with his own, “The Trigger Warning Myth”, arguing that there is no way trigger warnings are the cause of this mental instability. Both agree that emotional coddling can be detrimental to a student’s mental health, although Hanlon thinks there is no emotional coddling involved in trigger warnings. To make the argument that trigger warnings are forced upon teachers and cause more harm than protection to students, Lukianoff and Haidt must believe that the students ultimately hold the power in the classroom setting but are also narrow-minded. Hanlon, contrarily, assumes that teachers are the head of the classroom and that students are open minded to things that may make them question their beliefs and the beliefs of those around them.

Throughout the past few years people have started to become more cautious of what they say and do in public because everyone reacts differently to all kinds of things and it is not hard to offend someone. In the essay “Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, they discuss the rise of microaggression, which fosters a culture where young adults are sheltered from concepts that give offense. They focus on the idea of removing offensive words, ideas, and subjects from college campuses because they believe it is disastrous to protect the words and ideas that may cause “microaggression” from college students. In order to persuade the readers that colleges are distorting and coddling the minds of their students, Lukianoff and Haidt use modes of persuasion, examples, and definitions.

These are but a few of the provocative headlines to capture the attention of faculty and administrators in recent years. Such essays, for many, introduced terms like trigger warnings, microaggressions, and safe spaces, now commonplace in media coverage of academic life in the 21st century. The stories they tell involve a wide range of issues, but the overarching themes that bind them include concerns about restrictions on free speech, student sensitivity, and evolving campus policies regarding acceptable content and language in and out of the classroom. My role today as a member of

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

A sense of communication and critical thinking provides benefits for students to prepare them for their careers. Their ability to communicate with others creates opportunities for themselves to receive advice, assistance, or positive influence towards his or her future. College teaches students to network with peers through engaging in making meetings and appointments with people who offer help. This is important for the students because when they get to their career the skill of engaging through meetings is crucial to coordinating with a manager or a boss for the appropriate details on a task. Opportunities that students have, such as reading books and listening to the lectures of experts, engage students to think on their own, ask questions,