” The world doesn’t care about your feelings or beliefs, people think they are right no matter what and students will have to face hateful, discriminating, sexual words no matter where they go. So, college is there to prepare them, by helping them develop their beliefs and opinions on topics, not censoring them. Trigger warnings cause the student’s to have thin skin and “could theoretically lead to discrimination in the job market, with young people passed over in favor of (perceived tougher older people). (Whitley 2)” Isn’t discrimination what society is trying to prevent. If trigger warnings become implemented at a young age, they will grow up to think with their emotions causing them to have thin skin and not be able to handle certain situations that could arise in the workforce. Which could cause some to be unemployed and to still have a huge load of college debt. …show more content…
Psychologist are being left in the dust in trying to figure out why trigger warnings have become such a big deal for students.
This is like the “Salem Witch Trials” they claim, “where they didn’t have a diagnosis for what was going on which demonstrated the scale of the problem. (Pomeroy 4)” Why is it similar? This is because it’s the teens leading this revolution just like they did in the trail, the adults are confused and don’t understand what is going on because they didn’t have problems with any of the hot topics that are coming up. Also, another reason is that people are afraid of offending people and their beliefs. So, we are cowering in fear just like the people did in the Salem Witch Trials. Including trigger warnings in school will cause us to have a social environment where we are afraid to speak our mind because we are afraid to hurt someone’s sensitive
feelings. Trigger warnings cause students to be “extremely coddled” and can cause psychological damage. (Reville 1) The trigger warnings would become a tactic to avoid disturbing topics. Which, could result in speakers being banned from that talk about sensitive issues on a university campus. Which is not a healthy way to interact socially. The American Psychological Association claims in an article written by Boysen that offering generic classroom warnings about sensitive topics to students, in general, has very little support. The reason being is that we won’t move forward in the world. We would stop solving problems like sexual assault, terrorism, and even illness. I know that I would want to continue to move forward so that we can do new and exciting things. However, if we continue to let students lead with their emotions we would be at a standstill in the world and nothing would end up being accomplished. This is because we say that something should be done, but never act on it because they are too afraid which is what trigger warnings would accomplish. Instead, we need people who are willing to protect people from being harmed, but if we aren’t willing to protect people by learning and sometimes experiencing disturbing things, then we will not solve some of the greatest problems in the world. People believe that students should be given a right to consent or have knowledge of what they might be taught. Just like we should have the right to know what we are eating. Although, it is a good idea to know what we put in our mind the world is so twisted now that even the slightest accident could be viewed as bad. This is due to not receive knowledge of how to handle a situation that one cannot control. This doesn’t mean there is not a way to help the bright minds of the future to digest something that is out of their control. Otherwise, we are leaving students to expect the worst and hope for the best. However, this would not be preparing our students for entering the world this would be the opposite. However, the best way to help students and future generation of workers is to teach them how to handle situations that might include conflicting or harmful material. Leon Pomeroy writes about “Super ABC Paradigm” which teaches how to evaluate a situation at its face value. “A” stands for “activating events” so what caused it. “B” is “belief systems” and “C” is “consequent emotions and behavior.” He goes on to explain that “A” doesn’t cause “C”. However, “B” so are beliefs cause “C”. The ABC’s are to help remind us that it is not what is said but is how we act and tell our self’s that cause us to react. Teaching students at a young age about the “Super ABC Paradigm” will cause students to look at any material at face value and keep their emotions in check. The idea that implementing trigger warnings into the schools will have a huge negative impact on many aspects of life. This includes school, home, work and social environments one might face daily. Schools will face restrictions on teaching. Home life will be different because the generations will want to protect their children from harmful ideas, mostly about emotions as time goes by. Work will be given to those with thicker skin, causing discrimination and socially we will be too afraid to speak our mind.
In Kate Manne’s article “Why I Use Trigger Warnings”, she argues that trigger warnings are an important feature to incorporate in an educator’s curriculum, but not as a safety cushion for millennials to fall on to avoid work and serious or uncomfortable topics. Using PTSD studies along with failed tests of exposure therapy for the foundation of her points, she explains that trigger warnings can help mentally prepare a student for what they are about to read instead of blindsiding them and throwing them into a potentially anxiety-induced state where they can’t focus. Manne also brings up how people can react when reading political or religious material in comparison towards reading possibly triggering material in order to differentiate between
First they explain how students have recently started expecting that their professors publish trigger warnings, alerts that students expect with anything that may cause distress, in the name of protecting students who may be reminded of trauma by being exposed to certain topics. While proving the fallacies in the concept of trigger warnings, Lukianoff and Haidt quote Harvard professor, Jeannie Suk 's essay about teaching rape law when students are determined to have protection from unpleasant ideas and demand trigger warnings. She says it is like trying to teach “a medical student who is training to be a surgeon but who fears that he 'll become distressed at the sight of blood (48).” This shows how the students’ desire for protection cause difficulties in teaching for
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
Although trigger warnings sound like a harmless idea to many, there is an extreme controversy about whether or not they should be used in college lectures. Many college professors have conflicting views about trigger warnings; some agree on using them while others are against it. This debate topic is particularly intriguing in Kate Manne’s article in the New York Times titled, “Why I Use Trigger
Owen and Sawhill state that college can positively affect one’s life by “affecting things like job satisfaction, health, marriage, parenting, trust, and social interaction. Additionally, there are social benefits to education, such as reduced crime rates and higher political participation” (Owen, Sawhill pg 640). By saying that, Owen and Sawhill are trying to give the idea that by going to college, you will be an all around better citizen, which definitely plays with emotions because who doesn’t want to be a good citizen. Also, Owen and Sawhill talk about the college decision process. Basically, the general idea is that when choosing a college it is better to choose a college that will benefit you financially, not one you just
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
College is full of new experiences, new people, and new communities, and many universities encourage the exchange of new ideas and diversity among students. This year, the University of Chicago sent out a letter to all of its incoming freshmen informing them that in keeping with their beliefs of freedom of expression and healthy discussion and debate, the school would not provide “safe spaces” or “trigger warnings”. Senior Sophie Downes found this letter to be misleading in many ways, including in the definitions of safe spaces and trigger warnings, as well as the issues it was addressing. Downes claims that the letter was misrepresenting the school, but also was using the letter as a sort
By feeling that way high school graduates feel forced to attend college just so people would not criticize. We live in a society where having a Bachelor’s Degree is a big deal now and not having one means that you are not going anywhere in life. Charles argues that society is the reason why this is happening. “Today, if you do not get a Bachelor’s Degree, many people assume it is because you are too dumb or too lazy. And all this because of a degree that seldom has interpretable substantive meaning”. (Murray 253) I agree with Charles because it is true that society forces people to go to college even if college is not the best option for them. For instance, I took a year off of school right after I graduated high school. During that time my family members, like cousins and aunts would ask me, if I was going to college, what I wanted to major in, and why was I not in school? I was always afraid to answer those questions because I still was not sure what I wanted to do and I did not want to get judged if I said something that they did not approve of. Not going to college made me feel ashamed and guilty just because of my intrusive family. They think that just because someone does not attend college they are automatically on the wrong path and dense. My family reinforces the example that Charles Warren makes
The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, is an article published by the Atlantic Journal about the negative effects trigger warnings and microaggressions have on students in college. Trigger warnings are disclaimers about any potential emotional response from a class or its material. (44) Microaggressions are words or actions that have no sinister intentions, but people take as such. (44) Greg Lukianoff is the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. (47) As the leader of the foundation, Greg Lukianoff has witnessed and fought many legal occasions of trigger warnings and microaggressions resulting in the masking of freedom of speech. Coauthor Jonathan Haidt is a professor at New
"Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus” by Derek Bok, published in Boston Globe in 1991, is an essay about what we should do when we are faced with expressions that are offensive to some people. The author discusses that although the First Amendment may protect our speech, but that does not mean it protects our speech if we use it immorally and inappropriately. The author claims that when people do things such as hanging the Confederate flag, “they would upset many fellow students and ignore the decent regard for the feelings of others” (70). The author discusses how this issue has approached Supreme Court and how the Supreme Court backs up the First Amendment and if it offends any groups, it does not affect the fact that everyone has his or her own freedom of speech. The author discusses how censorship may not be the way to go, because it might bring unwanted attention that would only make more devastating situations. The author believes the best solutions to these kind of situations would be to
America was founded on popular sovereignty and individual freedoms. What do Americans do when the freedoms given to them from birth are restricted or taken away from them? They fight! Throughout time the government has attempted to take away our civil liberties because they viewed them to be for the greater good. One huge government failure was the attempted prohibition of alcohol. It is well known that alcohol can be very dangerous and it should be restricted. However, the government went too far when it tried to take it away completely and just like their rebellious founders the American population just found ways around the law. Similarily, Carroll High School and other schools throughout the nation are severely restricting the students’ rights to express themselves through their visual appearance. The administration, relying on the crutch of limiting distractions and violence, is taking the dress code over the line and is infringing on our right of expression regardless of the lack of results that they are witnessing.
What originally set out to be a policy deemed to create a safer environment in our schools has communities now taking part in what many ...
Which include danger to the school or any of the students and this should be the only way teachers and schools can restrict students’ rights. but schools tend to go too far restricting students’ rights “The principal had ordered the stories removed from the paper because he believed the story about teen pregnancy was inappropriate for some of the younger students at the school, based on its discussion of sexual activity and birth control”(What are the free expression rights of students in public schools under the First Amendment?) a student though that this was appropriate for the school to read and it was but the officials at the school did not think the same way. also another case Bazaar v. Fortune officials tried to stop publication of a book just because it had a few words in it that they did not like.(The First Amendment and Public Schools) this is taking there restrictions just too far. The government should be able to set guidelines of what the immediate danger is and what kind of expression goes way too far and have it sent out to all the schools in the United States. This might help schools from restricting our
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
Censorship in schools can protect children and eliminate problems, but it can also cause many other problems. For one thing, it sometimes violates the First Amendment. The First Amendment states that “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (Taylor 15). These rights are guaranteed to all American citizens, and that includes schoolchildren as well. According to the Constitution, the government cannot take away these basic rights. Public schools are government funded, so they must be sure not to infringe on student’s rights or there could be a lawsuit on their hands. In addition to legal consequences, school is about learning and ...