The Shield of Ignorance
College provides many adventures and challenges for any young adult. An intricate aspect of higher education is the exposure to a variety of culture and opinions. But in colleges and schools across America education is being severely limited. In their article “Coddling of the American Mind”, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, show that stifling the education of America’s youth is not only detrimental to their education but also harmful to their mental health. They successfully provoke the urgency to address the desolation of education of our youth by exploiting absurd statements and situations occurring in higher educational settings (pathos), show that sheltering youth does not prepare them for life (logos), and demonstrate …show more content…
The wrongful prosecution of “a white student guilty of racial harassment for reading a book titled Notre Dame vs. the Klan” (LG 5) should raise an alarm that we punish those who education themselves to recognize and prevent the reoccurrence of heinous historical acts. Society has initiated a movement that “sought to restrict speech (specifically hate speech aimed at marginalized groups), but it also challenged the literary, philosophical, and historical canon, seeking to widen it by including more-diverse perspectives” (LG 2). Limiting speech of any form is a violation of freedom of speech. Speech should be moderated to respect individual values, not to avoid uncomfortable topics. The purpose in higher education is to enlighten students and provide knowledge that creates understanding and tolerance of …show more content…
A university professor was condemned for correcting “a student [who] had wrongly capitalized the first letter of the word indigenous. Lowercasing the capital I was an insult to the student and her ideology” (LG 8). An instructor was suspended and required to seek a mental health consultation after humorously stating ‘It looks like you guys are being slowly suffocated by these questions’, he recalled saying. ‘Am I on a killing spree or what?’ (LG 9). Lukianoff and Haidt clearly demonstrate the absurdity of a system in which a teacher cannot make jest to lighten the mood of the class. They emphasis the importance of acknowledging different opinions when saying “[i]f students graduate believing that they can learn nothing from people they dislike or from those with whom they disagree, we will have done them great intellectual disservice” (LG 10). Our youth should be taught there is value in the opinion of others and differences should be respected and
College provides many adventures and challenges for any young adult. An intricate aspect of higher education is the exposure to a variety of culture and opinions. But in colleges and schools across America education is being severely limited. In their article “Coddling of the American Mind”, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, show that stifling the education of America’s youth is not only detrimental to their education but also harmful to their mental health. They successfully provoke the urgency to address the desolation of education of our youth by exploiting absurd statements and situations occurring in higher educational settings (pathos), show that sheltering youth does not prepare them for life (logos), and demonstrate …show more content…
The wrongful prosecution of “a white student guilty of racial harassment for reading a book titled Notre Dame vs. the Klan” (LG 5) should raise an alarm that we punish those who education themselves to recognize and prevent the reoccurrence of heinous historical acts. Society has initiated a movement that “sought to restrict speech (specifically hate speech aimed at marginalized groups), but it also challenged the literary, philosophical, and historical canon, seeking to widen it by including more-diverse perspectives” (LG 2). Limiting speech of any form is a violation of freedom of speech. Speech should be moderated to respect individual values, not to avoid uncomfortable topics. The purpose in higher education is to enlighten students and provide knowledge that creates understanding and tolerance of …show more content…
A university professor was condemned for correcting “a student [who] had wrongly capitalized the first letter of the word indigenous. Lowercasing the capital I was an insult to the student and her ideology” (LG 8). An instructor was suspended and required to seek a mental health consultation after humorously stating ‘It looks like you guys are being slowly suffocated by these questions’, he recalled saying. ‘Am I on a killing spree or what?’ (LG 9). Lukianoff and Haidt clearly demonstrate the absurdity of a system in which a teacher cannot make jest to lighten the mood of the class. They emphasis the importance of acknowledging different opinions when saying “[i]f students graduate believing that they can learn nothing from people they dislike or from those with whom they disagree, we will have done them great intellectual disservice” (LG 10). Our youth should be taught there is value in the opinion of others and differences should be respected and