“The Coddling of the American Mind” Questions Part 2 – for 9/6
The authors break down critical thinking to allow one to ground his or her beliefs in facts instead of because of emotion and allows them to evaluate those facts. Personally, I think critical thinking is about thinking deeply to form your own opinion on something based off of facts and/or evidence to come to your own conclusion. The authors think that critical thinking on campus is harder due to essentially students’ sensitivity. The authors talk a lot about how this generation cannot take a joke or think too much into what people say. They tend to jump to conclusions and report their peers or even their professors which does not end well for those involved, usually resulting in a suspension. “….Subjective feelings are not always trustworthy guides; unrestrained, they can cause people to lash out at others who have done nothing wrong.” Those who are sensitive to what others say around them may not even have any solid proof of a “threat,” but may just feel like it is. There is no evidence to what people say or how people say it because there is no proof unless it is on video. In this generation, it is more likely for there to be some sort of proof or evidence with all of this technology, but that still may not be true. False allegations are still a large issue on many campuses and in many work places.
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“Fortune telling and trigger warnings” are talked negatively by the authors. They say they are “anticipat[ing] that things will turn out badly” and “convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact,” and “predict[ing] the future negatively.” These quotes show how the authors think that fortune telling and trigger warnings are not beneficial to young minds, especially in college settings. Throughout the article, they explain how colleges and educators should be preparing their students for the real world instead of sheltering them from it. Everything about fortune telling and trigger warnings is about protecting those from distress. The distress of real things that happen in our society and things that happen on a daily basis. I completely agree with the authors in this article. People in this generation are way too sensitive and frankly, cannot take a joke. All of the examples in this article show the oversensitivity of the people reporting the comment made and personally I just think this is unfair. It is unfair for the person being accused to automatically be punished for the fact that there is no proof and they “hurt someone’s feelings” and now have to pay the price. One example I find absurd is the one from Bergen Community College. In short, a professor posted a picture of his daughter to his school google account and her shirt had a “threatening” saying on it from a TV show. The quote was taken as a threat the the professor was suspended. Examples like these is exactly why I think this generation is just too coddled. For someone to get offended because of a quote and then report their professor for it is something I would never think of doing.
