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The effects of mental health on college students
Mental health on college campuses essay
Mental health on college campuses essay
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When thinking of safe spaces and trigger warnings what comes to mind? A place where all differences are accepted and never downgraded. A trigger warning that there may be content ahead that some people may be uncomfortable with. Safe spaces and trigger warnings should be encouraged on college campuses because you never know what lies beneath the surface and what someone could be going through. While searching more on the topics three authors helped me understand more why safe spaces and trigger warnings are important roles on a college campus. Safe spaces, which are an important role on college campuses, are defined as “a place (as on a college campus) intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, …show more content…
Trigger warnings are just a little heads up that the material ahead may be troubling to some. Not all material is so detailed that it needs a trigger warning but if it is more graphic than normal throw a little heads up to those that may be affected by it. Kate Manne, a professor, talks about why she uses trigger warnings in the article, Why I Use Trigger Warnings. She talks about how “Trigger warnings are nothing new” (Manne) and “The idea was to flag content that depicted or discussed common causes of trauma” (Manne). Kate’s explanation of why she puts trigger warnings is to not point out students, but to explain that they should take caution when reading forward and understand that it may be a sensitive topic for some. Also, trigger warnings are just warnings and it is up to the reader if they want to read the material about to be presented or not. Trigger warnings are for sensitive material and it is to hopefully help people be ready and to not have a serious reaction to what is being shown or read. That is also why Kate may add a trigger warning “to allow those who are sensitive to these subjects to prepare themselves for reading about them, and better manage their reactions.” She wants her students to try and feel as comfortable as they can and if using trigger warnings is the options she will add them. Especially since most classes may …show more content…
Sophie Downes, the author of Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces and Free Speech, Too, makes a good point of why they can be included on college campuses. Professors choose whether they have trigger warnings or not and that is the thing, that don’t have to, but they understand their students. In the article, it said, “The instructor told us that we could reach out to her if we had difficulty with the class materials, and that she’d do everything she could to make it easier for us to participate” (Downes). This quote helps show that professors understand that some material might be difficult to some students and that they would do whatever they can to help the students to make it easier and for them to feel a little more comfortable with the material. It also said in the article, “support systems can be a lifeline in the tumultuous environment of college” (Downes). The helps support that there are safe spaces on college campuses and they can help students who have gone through trauma and they really do help those
They should start discussions about rape and sexist cases because it’s going on in today’s society and for people to know it’s okay to talk about it if it ever happened to them. Colleges need to prepare students for the real word so they need to have real life discussions in class for the students that are growing up and entering the workforce. College campuses are going through the mircoagression theory and professors fear to talk about trigger warnings in class when both students and professors should have freedom of speech in classrooms. “One of my biggest concerns about trigger warnings,” Roff wrote, “is that they will apply not just to those who have experienced trauma, but to all students, creating an atmosphere in which they are encouraged to believe that there is something dangerous or damaging about discussing difficult aspects of our history.” (49). Professors try to avoid teaching material that will upset sensitive students, but instead they should start warning students about the materials they are going to teach and set boundaries so students can know what they are about to learn to prevent teachers from getting in trouble or risk getting fired from their
Leo goes on to discuss how this leads to over-sensitivity, severe peer judgement, and even a sensitivity violation. Much of this is written in a sarcastic tone, because the idea of campuses across the country enforcing “sensitivity violations” is a ridiculous statement in itself.
In Roxane Gay 's op-ed, "The Seduction of Safety, on Campus and Beyond", she states, "Rather than use trigger warnings, I try to provide students with the context they will need to engage productively in complicated discussions", and this is exactly what I am talking about. People who understand that freedom of speech does not have to be taken away in order to stop "triggering" people. Communication is key and freedom of speech is our given right that allows us to communicate our thoughts and feelings. When I searched, "safe spaces in universities" on google, all I could find was article after article of people criticizing safe spaces and giving reasons why they should not happen on college campuses. The most used reason, was a reason that Shulevitz used as well, that safe spaces create ignorance in the growing teenager and become problematic. While this may be true, I feel I should of found more articles like Gay 's, emphasizing with victims and understanding the need for safety sometimes, but without ignorance. The world is scary, hurtful, and breaks you as you grow older. Safe spaces are needed for comfort, they can bring peace, and give someone a person who understands. It 's wrong to put college students behind a door and shut them in so they are not "triggered" by someone 's opinion, but it 's also wrong to not acknowledge that sometimes, people just need to take a break from all the speech in the world and re-cope themselves to
The author argues that the use of “trigger warnings” should not become a policy due to the student becoming uncomfortable over a certain lesson in class. The argument is effective in parts, but not as a whole. What about the students who actually are medically unable to deal with a lesson in class due to PTSD? This editorial really only showed the bad side of trigger warnings inside colleges classes instead of showing the pros and the cons like most would. Some people claim that the addition of trigger warnings would not affect a college student’s ability to complete the work. It would also be difficult to do well on parts of a test unless they have a friend who will attend class still and take notes for them. Over all, trigger warnings are not completely bad, but they can most definitely be taken advantage of by students who do not want to go to classes one
According to The Coddling of the American Mind, trigger warnings and microaggressions confine professors’ and well-educated adults’ unalienable right of speech; furthermore, they can impact one’s health. Protecting rights have a unison consensus; the authors unite them and the audience together to persuade the well-educated adults to protest the use of trigger warnings and microaggressions. While concluding that vindictive protectiveness is the reason for trigger warnings and microaggressions Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt state, “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.” (45) The word “policing” holds a negative connotation implying regulation, and no one wants their first amendment right of free speech stolen from them. Also the idea that trigger warnings and microaggressions may lead to depression and anxiety gives more logical reasoning to end trigger warnings and microaggressions in higher level education. When the authors specify the change that colleges should make, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt write their idea of the purpose of college, “Rather than
A trigger warning is most commonly found on internet articles, and blogs. It serves the purpose of warning the reader of any potentially triggering material that they may find offensive or may be sensitive toward due to post traumatic experiences in their life. They are essentially created to prevent readers from accidently encountering the material without some sort of warning. An example of this would be, an article that discusses the topic of self harm can cause unwanted flashbacks in a person that has personally experienced this themselves and would not like to be reminded of it, or an image included in an article that reminds a war veteran of the things that they saw while on deployment.
Even if a professor is full of experiences, it is impossible for a professor to find out whole sensitive topics that may cause troubles. “Trigger warnings run into the same problem as proposed hate-speech laws: where do they stop? Anything can be a trigger, from hot dogs to Nazis to Mike Tyson to the color yellow. The right smell, sound, word, or image can initiate a painful flashback for a particular person, who can’t always anticipate them. The triggers don’t have to be traditionally traumatic words, phrases, or concepts, so you can’t easily predict what will set someone off.”(P99, Overton). Author Overton thinks that students have the obligation to inform the professor that what is a potential trigger to them prior to the class because professor cannot find out the topics that may cause problems fully. Hence, not only the efficiency but also the reliability of this function is better than “trigger warnings”. So students should submit the topics that could cause them to feel upset to the professor before the
Yet, as a profession (and a society) maybe a little shock treatment now and then is good for us, especially if we ourselves work in relatively “safe” schools and communities. Maybe it’s time to remind ourselves that one school’s problem can become every school’s problem if the profession at large is not watchful and careful. No school is immune to the potential of extreme violence, as many of us, without meaning to, have learned. If you’re a long-time, veteran English teacher, you may never have thought you’d see the day when an issue of English Journal would be devoted to school violence. The idea never occurred to me, either. But here we are, and here that issue is. And, what’s more, it’s high time. While none of us needs convincing that the violence problem is serious in a great many places, some of the statistics are sobering.
The authors of “Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, use ethos, logos, and pathos convey their negative stance regarding trigger warnings and the effect they on education. Lukianoff and Haidt’s use of rhetorical appeal throughout the article adds to the author’s credibility and the strength of the argument against increasing the use of trigger warnings in school material. The authors, Lukianoff and Haidt, rely heavily upon the use of logos, such as relations between conflicts surrounding trigger warnings and other historical conflicts impacting student ethics. Examples of the use of these logical appeals are the relation between the Columbine Massacre and the younger generations ideology. The author goes on to mention other societal turning points such
Dazey, Josh. “Campus puts students at undue risk: while restricting “basic natural rights”. Ifeminists. Feb 12, 2002. http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2002/0212b.html
Trigger warnings are endangering free speeches on college campuses. They prevent students from learning about and understanding others’ opinion and ideas. In his article, Jon Overton states that “They (trigger warnings)
How safe do you feel when you attend school everyday? Many students and faculty don’t really think too much about school being a dangerous place; however, after a couple of school shootings had taken place their minds and thoughts may have changed completely. On April 16, 2007, in the town of Blacksburg Virginia, a college student who attended Virginia Tech, opened gunfire to his fellow classmates. This shooting has been considered to be the biggest massacre in all of American history. There are many things to be discussed in this major tragedy. Some of them include the events leading up to the shooting, the timeline that the shootings occurred, the causes, and the significance in this particular shooting. The Virginia Tech is only one of the several examples of the horrible behavior and violence in our school systems today.
It is my strong belief that each child is entitled to a safe, secure, stimulating and caring learning environment. I always believed that each child is a unique individual with much curiosity and many academic, social and emotional needs. Children need our support in order to mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. As a teacher, one should aim to help students in fulfilling their dreams to become successful and educated individuals. We must provide them with a safe learning environment for their learning to succeed.
The aforementioned are example of student trauma, that can lead to further bad behavior and many harshly repeated reprimands targeted toward so-called problem students, for minor infractions that use mean a visit to the principal’s office or staying after
The general view of gender segregated bathrooms has been challenged once gender neutral bathrooms came into play in the public school setting. According to Debate.org, 60% of Americans believe that schools should have gender neutral restrooms; which allow transgender or gender challenged students use the restroom without the fear of judgment. Shouldn’t everyone have the right to use the restroom? While numerous of schools have tried to make transgendered students to feel as comfortable as possible at school, in which some students consider a “safe place” due to a bully free policy, many students are viewed negatively. This issue does not only take place in grade school, but as well as graduate schools. The idea of transgender students utilizing