The Coddling of the American Mind
August 11, 2015 8:44 AM Subscribe
The Coddling of the American Mind. "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."
This post was deleted for the following reason: We've definitely had some long, difficult discussions about this general topic several times, and I think even one in the last years specifically about Jonathan Haidt's opinions about this stuff; not really sure this is a good enough reason to do it again. -- cortex
WARNING: the little kid at the top of the page is a Scanner and if you look into his dead eyes for too long your brain will boil and explode.
posted by selfnoise at 8:51 AM on August 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by selfnoise at 8:51 AM on August 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
Christ almighty. Giving assault and rape survivors a little warning before asking them to interact with potentially traumatic material is not the same thing as removing all mental challenge from a student's education.
posted by sciatrix at 8:51 AM on August 11, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by sciatrix at 8:51 AM on August 11, 2015 [8 favorites]
ugggggggggh uggggggggggggh ugggggggggggggggh ugggggggggggggh
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:54 AM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:54 AM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
sciatrix: "Giving assault and rape survivors a little warning before asking them to interact with potentially traumatic material is not the same thing as removing all mental challenge from a student's education."
Yeah, but requiring professors to think critically about how they teach is really an unfair sort of burden to place on a professional in a climate designed to foster critical thinking. They can't face that kind of mental challenge! They must be protected from it at all costs!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015 [16 favorites]
Yeah, but requiring professors to think critically about how they teach is really an unfair sort of burden to place on a professional in a climate designed to foster critical thinking. They can't face that kind of mental challenge! They must be protected from it at all costs!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015 [16 favorites]
ugggggggggh uggggggggggggh ugggggggggggggggh ugggggggggggggh
Beat me to it.
posted by rossination at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Beat me to it.
posted by rossination at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by leotrotsky at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
We must add Caitlin Flanagan's contribution to this issue: That’s Not Funny! - Today’s college students can’t seem to take a joke.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:55 AM on August 11, 2015
Amazingly, reading article after article about coddled college students also leads to patterns of thought that are surprisingly similar to those long identified by cognitive behavioral therapists as causes of depression. Thoughts like "what am I doing here?" and "is my life now an unending cycle of pain?"
posted by teponaztli at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by teponaztli at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
oh cool Kids These Days mixed in with a nice dose of armchair psychology and The World Is A Tough Place
come on, the Atlantic, we deserve better and you deserve better
posted by griphus at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
come on, the Atlantic, we deserve better and you deserve better
posted by griphus at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
Yeah, but requiring professors to think critically about how they teach is really an unfair sort of burden to place on a professional in a climate designed to foster critical thinking. They can't face that kind of mental challenge! They must be protected from it at all costs!
“The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore, so it eats it! It's rather like getting tenure.” -Daniel Dennett
posted by leotrotsky at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
“The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore, so it eats it! It's rather like getting tenure.” -Daniel Dennett
posted by leotrotsky at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
But what if youth begin to have ideas and care about things that we don't already agree with? We might have a disagreement. And then have to discuss it! Oh, lord, not the tedious discussions. And don't get me started on compromise and understanding. Can't we just find a forum where we can have a one-sided tirade about how wrong they are? Just to assuage our feelings a little? Ah, yes, The Atlantic. sips tea
posted by phooky at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by phooky at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
A trigger warning that [reading/lecture/whatever] is going to include [upsetting topic] isn't setting students up to avoid that thing, it's setting them up to prepare for it -- being sure to get enough sleep before, or get work done in advance, or a therapy appointment that evening, or whatever. It isn't up to a professor to try habituating their students to whatever it is that upsets them.
posted by jeather at 8:57 AM on August 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by jeather at 8:57 AM on August 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
*reposts previous comment, with MetaFilter substituted for Atlantic*
posted by phooky at 8:57 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by phooky at 8:57 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
TOO SOON!
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 8:58 AM on August 11, 2015
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 8:58 AM on August 11, 2015
MetaFilter: When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore, so it eats it!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:59 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:59 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
oh god do we have to start treating other humans with respect? WHAT'S NEXT I BET IT'S GENOCIDE
posted by poffin boffin at 8:59 AM on August 11, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 8:59 AM on August 11, 2015 [8 favorites]
Ugh, I thought we stopped calling it "The" Metafilter back in 2007?
posted by FJT at 8:59 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by FJT at 8:59 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by codacorolla at 8:50 AM on August 11, 2015 [9 favorites]