Classroom Desensitivity Movement

Recently a movement has been sweeping the collegiate world of the United States. Students are working with the administration to change the environment of college. They hope to create a more open and safe place for all, from the classrooms to the quad. While the hopes of these students are lofty and admirable, their methods are to be questioned. The subculture that is stoked and the effects of this movement may not be as positive as the college they wish to make. As it appears now this movement has devolved into the passing of laws and accusations of triggering, shifting the focus of the movement to a blame game and away from the real goal of protecting the student psyche, the real goal of both students and the administration.

The meaning …show more content…
The claim made is when colleges are made to cater to the specific needs of some students they may be forced to cater to every student. If one student claims triggering on a book or classroom discussion, what is to stop others from chiming in, finding an issue or abusive trait within every classroom material until there is nothing left to teach. Scholars worry that in creating an environment that shields students from harmful imagery or abusive language, students will be unable to handle these same factors that they will encounter outside of college. Here is when many students and allies of this movement step in to say that to those with mental requirements, such as PTSD, these experiences pose a real threat to their stability and that these students should not be forced to endure painful reminders of traumatic experiences. But in establishing these two sides, one classroom in which no harmful imagery is ever used and one where unchanged curriculum may pose a threat to students, we are forgetting that there can be even ground between the two. Rather than shielding all students or telling them to simply accept the difficult topics, colleges should focus on creating an environment that encourages mature and insightful discussions. Instead of pushing away challenging topics colleges create students and teachers willing to take on that challenge in a healthy way. In this type …show more content…
The theory here is that by laying the groundwork of support for mental illness, students will be more likely to seek out help from the college if needed. This may be done through increased counseling efforts for students to use and education about mental illness making students able to recognize when this help is needed. In doing this the push towards mental health can give students the tools to improve on mental health that can result in lowered sensitivity to triggers; all while destigmatizing the very ailments that cause the trigger avoidance to begin with. Through this the original need to avoid certain topics completely for fear of harming the mental stability of students is decreased, placing the focus on the microaggressions that are said to plague the victims of social inequality. The drive in this sense is not to use these social differences in an abusive way but to also not remove them completely lest they are erased from discussions and allowed to flourish. With social topics such as sexism, racism and other prejudices that have existed for hundreds of years and are thusly ingrained in our society the focus should be to acknowledge them not hide from them. This is the only way to create students that are socially literate and in doing so quell the spread of these issues. In encouraging mature discussions of these issues within the classroom the awareness of them is