Lukianoff and Haidt are right that trigger warnings are becoming more apparent on college campuses, but he seems on more dubious ground when he claims that having a professor give a trigger warning at the beginning of class is still wrong. If the teacher is going over a hard topic, that may be upsetting to people, they may state that this is what we are going over just so everyone knows. If they don’t do this they can cause chaos in the classroom that they do not want to deal with. Creating this open conversation between teachers and students will create a better learning environment for everyone.
By focusing on the growth the students are making, Dweck overlooks the deeper problem of not praising the students for their natural knowledge. If we don’t tell these kids they are smart they are not going to push themselves to either eb better or gain the knowledge their classmates have. By telling them that they are smart, and praising their intelligence as well, we are going to boost their confidence and help them become even better students with a higher Growth Mindset than if we don’t.
Lukianoff and Haidts theory that trigger warnings create a person who is not ready to be a part of society is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of trigger warnings. Trigger warnings are creating students that are not able to think on their own, they rely on someone else to change topics and conversations for them. If we continue to let trigger warnings run our lives then these students will not be able to face the challenges that come with the real world.
Dweck’s theory that we are wasting lives by not capturing the true knowledge that students have is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of a fixed mindset. If we help students become the best version of themselves, education wise, then we can create a type of person who is equipped to handle tough situations in the real world. By creating this growth mindset in students we will be bettering them for a future in a society that does not have room for a fixed mindset.
