The Coddling Of The American Mind

[Marcus Aurelius]

This was a recent read for me, an excellent book for anyone that works within the university milieu, or has kids in college, or is interested in campus culture, or education in general. The blurb from Amazon is a good overview, so I'm quoting that...

"Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?

First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.

Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction.

This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines."

Here is JP interviewing the authors. The sound is a bit squirrely but the discussion is quite interesting...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqCNTopdBBs

I recommend this book highly. It's well-researched and enlightening.

25076

[Peter1469]

When I was in college we had a free speech square. People could speak on any topic. Nobody got triggered. The college repubs and dems held joint parties.

What has happened since then?

[Marcus Aurelius]

When I was in college we had a free speech square. People could speak on any topic. Nobody got triggered. The college repubs and dems held joint parties.
What has happened since then?

The authors of the book point to a number of reasons for that, one of them being so-called "helicopter parenting." They claim that parents of iGen, or Generation Z (the ones entering college about 2015 and later) have been overprotective in raising their children, and the children have therefore never been tested and inured to difficult circumstances, including differences of opinion. The children have been taught that life is full of danger from which they need to be protected, and that extends to speech that they might disagree with.

[Chris]

When I was in college we had a free speech square. People could speak on any topic. Nobody got triggered. The college repubs and dems held joint parties.

What has happened since then?

Yea, same here, the literatrue and linguistics departments put on weekly political debates with sometimes tempers flying but the next day everyone was still friendly.

[Chris]

The authors of the book point to a number of reasons for that, one of them being so-called "helicopter parenting." They claim that parents of iGen, or Generation Z (the ones entering college about 2015 and later) have been overprotective in raising their children, and the children have therefore never been tested and inured to difficult circumstances, including differences of opinion. The children have been taught that life is full of danger from which they need to be protected, and that extends to speech that they might disagree with.

Right, and then they go off to college and look for the same from professors and administrators.

Read the book and have listened to a number of lectures.

Here's a briefer presentation on Bill Maher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKW3vKpPrlw

[Marcus Aurelius]

Right, and then they go off to college and look for the same from professors and administrators.

But the professors don't make the situation any better, at least the ones steeped in the post-modern idea that rhetoric is not a tool to be used in the pursuit of truth, but rather a club with which to shout down your opponents. So what you get is a group of teenagers that weren't raised properly, being told by their teachers that it's legitimate to throw a tantrum at someone that you disagree with.

[Chris]

But the professors don't make the situation any better, at least the ones steeped in the post-modern idea that rhetoric is not a tool to be used in the pursuit of truth, but rather a club with which to shout down your opponents. So what you get is a group of teenagers that weren't raised properly, being told by their teachers that it's legitimate to throw a tantrum at someone that you disagree with.

Right, so they teach that to the kids who eventually go back to the real world and try to push that crap.

[Dr. Who]

The authors of the book point to a number of reasons for that, one of them being so-called "helicopter parenting." They claim that parents of iGen, or Generation Z (the ones entering college about 2015 and later) have been overprotective in raising their children, and the children have therefore never been tested and inured to difficult circumstances, including differences of opinion. The children have been taught that life is full of danger from which they need to be protected, and that extends to speech that they might disagree with.
That actually seems very plausible. Children in the last, perhaps more than 10 years, have all of the freedom of modern pets, something that animal psychologists suggest keeps our pets immature for life. I have been saying for years that on a relative basis there are no more pedophiles per capita than there ever were. You simply teach your children to be suspicious of any adult who is neither a relative or close neighbor who trying to be excessively familiar and trying to give them things, whether it be candy, a toy or a ride. Children will not learn how to deal with adversity or danger unless they experience it and learn to identify it. They will also not understand the difference between the theory of their ideas and the practical ramifications if they never have the opportunity to test them. Inasmuch as real life doesn't always offer a soft place to land, kids need to learn how to identify and avoid pitfalls and that doesn't happen when they are wrapped in cotton wool and protected from their own ill-considered behavior. Unfortunately, while parents have the best of intentions, they are crippling their children socially and they may also be inhibiting their creativity. Human beings have not advanced because they lived in the Garden of Eden, but because they didn't.

[Peter1469]

That actually seems very plausible. Children in the last, perhaps more than 10 years, have all of the freedom of modern pets, something that animal psychologists suggest keeps our pets immature for life. I have been saying for years that on a relative basis there are no more pedophiles per capita than there ever were. You simply teach your children to be suspicious of any adult who is neither a relative or close neighbor who trying to be excessively familiar and trying to give them things, whether it be candy, a toy or a ride. Children will not learn how to deal with adversity or danger unless they experience it and learn to identify it. They will also not understand the difference between the theory of their ideas and the practical ramifications if they never have the opportunity to test them. Inasmuch as real life doesn't always offer a soft place to land, kids need to learn how to identify and avoid pitfalls and that doesn't happen when they are wrapped in cotton wool and protected from their own ill-considered behavior. Unfortunately, while parents have the best of intentions, they are crippling their children socially and they may also be inhibiting their creativity. Human beings have not advanced because they lived in the Garden of Eden, but because they didn't.
Animals immature for life? That sounds like my younger cat. :smiley:

[Chris]

That actually seems very plausible. Children in the last, perhaps more than 10 years, have all of the freedom of modern pets, something that animal psychologists suggest keeps our pets immature for life. I have been saying for years that on a relative basis there are no more pedophiles per capita than there ever were. You simply teach your children to be suspicious of any adult who is neither a relative or close neighbor who trying to be excessively familiar and trying to give them things, whether it be candy, a toy or a ride. Children will not learn how to deal with adversity or danger unless they experience it and learn to identify it. They will also not understand the difference between the theory of their ideas and the practical ramifications if they never have the opportunity to test them. Inasmuch as real life doesn't always offer a soft place to land, kids need to learn how to identify and avoid pitfalls and that doesn't happen when they are wrapped in cotton wool and protected from their own ill-considered behavior. Unfortunately, while parents have the best of intentions, they are crippling their children socially and they may also be inhibiting their creativity. Human beings have not advanced because they lived in the Garden of Eden, but because they didn't.

Freedom from consequences. That is where Haidt sees academia doing harm.

[Marcus Aurelius]

That actually seems very plausible. Children in the last, perhaps more than 10 years, have all of the freedom of modern pets, something that animal psychologists suggest keeps our pets immature for life. I have been saying for years that on a relative basis there are no more pedophiles per capita than there ever were. You simply teach your children to be suspicious of any adult who is neither a relative or close neighbor who trying to be excessively familiar and trying to give them things, whether it be candy, a toy or a ride. Children will not learn how to deal with adversity or danger unless they experience it and learn to identify it. They will also not understand the difference between the theory of their ideas and the practical ramifications if they never have the opportunity to test them. Inasmuch as real life doesn't always offer a soft place to land, kids need to learn how to identify and avoid pitfalls and that doesn't happen when they are wrapped in cotton wool and protected from their own ill-considered behavior. Unfortunately, while parents have the best of intentions, they are crippling their children socially and they may also be inhibiting their creativity. Human beings have not advanced because they lived in the Garden of Eden, but because they didn't.

Exactly. The authors call the human psyche an anti-fragile system, meaning that in order for it to be strengthened, it has to receive a certain amount of negative input - something like psychological inoculation. They isolate another aspect of the problem as well: that many children today don't have unstructured playtime with other children. They cite a number of studies that demonstrate that proper early childhood development depends significantly on children being left alone to play with each other: to invent games and relationships on their own terms, and begin to learn the complexity of human interaction from the bottom up, by direct experience.