English 126Instructor: Mrs. Kaser
In the article titled “The Coddling of
the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Heidt, the authors argue that
college students are being increasingly protected from words and ideas they
don’t like in the name of emotional well-being. This overprotection is
disastrous for education—and mental health.
My Response to “The Coddling of the American Mind”
The world is becoming too sensitive, and I agree that oversensitivity is being taught! People learn from example, from what they see, hear, and experience. But I agree that this concept is being taught directly. I say: We live in a world where freedom of speech is a right, yet we are punished to some extent for exercising that right because it may offend someone, hurt someone’s feelings, or trigger emotions or experiences for others that may make them angry. And that is what I am referring to when J say the world is becoming too sensitive. There are many ways, but a few that come to mind or I have had experiences with are because of race, age, and verbal conduct.
One experience I have ha was someone that told me it was offensive for me to refer to my children as “half African American.” I was told by an African American (or would they be black or colored?) that if my children are African American, then it was an empowerment, and by saying “half” I was degrading the African American race. I was also told that if my children were born here in the United States, then they are not African Americans; they are Americans with a black father. Now in my opinion, I felt like I was being attacked because they were offended by how I referred to my children’s ethnicity, but I also thought they were offending themselves. I ended the debate and didn’t continue to argue my point or go into it further. I didn’t want to keep offending someone. If I was the sensitive type, it could have opened more debates, and feelings on both sides could have been more offended or provoked.
By the world being so sensitive, by the coddling of the American mind, and by students being taught that it is okay to be sensitive because there is a loophole to every feeling, I feel like this is the reason why everything is going downhill in America. Students should be taught ways to accept, adjust, and/or fix the issues instead of teaching them ways to coddle their feelings and emotions, not facing the issue, just complaining and being taught that “he hurt my feelings” or “She offended me” is a valid excuse.
I can agree with the authors on all the points of coddling the American mind. After reading this article, it just helped reaffirm what I already thought. I think oversensitivity is a bad quality for America to have. Reading this article also opened up more thoughts as well. I started wondering when will the coddling stop? Life isn’t easy or fair, and when will the American people realize that, instead of coddling their minds and being overly sensitive, fixing the problems and issues would be more effective? Don’t just cry wolf, become easily offended, or lash out because someone hurt your feelings, said a curse word in public, told a joke that you didn’t find funny, or just plainly have their own views on things. What makes that so wrong? But we are being taught that sensitivity; for example, if someone reads this feedback, I may end up offending or hurting someone’s feelings.