- The authors define (and italicize) the terms microaggressions and trigger warnings and offer a set of examples they think “border on the surreal.” they draw a distinction between what they term “political correctness” of the 1980s and 1990s and what they think is happening today. What, on their view, is that difference and why does it matter for education? What do you make of their ideas in the first section of the article? Be sure to quote from the text in your response.
There is a significant difference between microaggression and trigger warnings. They have similar meaning. but the way the word is used is different. In reference to “The Coddling” these words have been defined to describe life on campuses and ways students and educators talk to one another. The way they describe microaggressions in the text is, “Microaggressions are small actions or word choices that seem on their face to have no malicious intent but that are thought of as a kind of violence nonetheless” (Paragraph 2). What this means is that microaggression is when you say something to someone without the intention of being harmful but the connotation of what you have said is hurtful to the person. Microaggression is not intended to to hurt someone’s feelings but it does while trigger warning is a bit different. In the text trigger warning is defined as, “Trigger warnings are alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response” (Paragraph 2). What this means is that a trigger warning is something that alerts an educator of something that may cause strong response or emotion to the people in their class. These two terms matter in education because they are things you need to look out for when you are teaching a group of students. Some things may rub students the wrong way, even if that was not your intention. The ideas they had in the first section about these two things, microaggression and trigger warnings, was to be a guide as to what will offend students and what will be the proper response when something of an offensive nature will come up in discussion. The author used examples and ideas that would be helpful to understand what could make a student upset and how to have an intellectual conversation without bringing up things that will be harmful to a student.
- Consider the second section of the article, “How Did We Get Here?” The authors offer a kind of historical/social diagnosis for what they see on campuses. Attempt a brief (2-3 sentence) summary of the section and draw a text-to-self connection to a specific passage (quote). You might agree or disagree with them in your connection- or both, if it seems appropriate.
In the section of the text “How Did We Get Here?” the author talks about how the lifestyle of children has shifted over the years. Children used to roam around the streets and not be worried about the dangers in the world, but as these children grew up and started having children of their own the world seemed like a more dangerous place. These kids have grown up their entire life being told that someone will protect them their entire lives, and this is creating a more codependent on someone else. I think this fear that is instilled in children is something that is seen in many places today, not just on college campuses. For me personally, I am very scared to go out alone when it’s dark outside, or to go anywhere without a buddy when it’s late. In the text, it talks about the difference in children’s childhoods over the last few decades, “Childhood itself has changed greatly during the past generation. Many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers can remember riding their bicycles around their hometowns, unchaperoned by adults, by the time they were 8 or 9 years old. In the hours after school, kids were expected to occupy themselves, getting into minor scrapes and learning from their experiences. But “free range” childhood became less common in the 1980s. The surge in crime from the ’60s through the early ’90s made Baby Boomer parents more protective than their own parents had been” (Paragraph 9). This shows the fear that has been instilled in children and their parents. There are many scary people in this world, but we also need to realize that not everyone is out to hurt us. I agree we need to be cautious, i am cautious when i am out and about, but we do also need to realize that we cannot live in a bubble forever. We need to be able to get out and explore the world without this fear of being kidnapped or hurt.
- How might Dweck’s ideas about a “fixed mindset” (or a “growth mindset” if you prefer) relate to ideas in the first three sections of “The Coddling…”? In your response, be sure to quote from both texts and EXPLAIN the relationship you see.
Dweck’s idea of a fixed mindset is that these are students who run from problems and don’t try to solve a problem that they are facing, “On the left, you see the fixed-mindset students. There’s hardly any activity. They run from the error. They don’t engage with it” (around 01:51). She believes that these students don’t have the understanding to engage with problems and find different ways to solve the problem. In this text the authors are talking about how these students on college campuses are not adapted to living with problems, they have been coddling their entire lives and any small thing will set them off. “The ultimate aim, it seems, is to turn campuses into “safe spaces” where young adults are shielded from words and ideas that make some uncomfortable. And more than the last, this movement seeks to punish anyone who interferes with that aim, even accidentally. You might call this impulse vindictive protectiveness. It is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking up, lest they face charges of insensitivity, aggression, or worse” (Paragraph 5) this is a piece from “The Coddling” that shows that adults are shielding these young adults from offensive words or situations. While it is good to protect everyone from some things you cannot shield them from every thing in the world that may upset them. This is a fixed mindset approach because these students are running away from confrontation and things that make them uncomfortable because they do not have the technique to face the problem. Dweck’s idea of this fixed mindset is very prominent with current students when it comes to social interactions because they don’t know how to have a civilized conversation with one another.
