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Universities used to be places that engaged an challenged minds… what happened?
I first encountered this title when Jackie Hill Perry recommended it (either on her podcast or social media… I don’t remember). I immediately put it on my reading list because even from her very short description, I knew I had seen this already. Steeped in the academic system for several years, as a student but especially as a Teaching Assistant, I was watching undergraduate education crumble all around me. Instructors challenging students was no longer just a necessary annoyance. It had, somehow, morphed into an infringement on students’ rights.
In The Coddling of the American Mind, journalist Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt evaluate the recent history of American university campus culture to answer the questions, “how did we get here?” and “how might we recover from this?”
Lukianoff and Haidt identify three “untruths” that they believe are the culprit of so much damage to Gen Z/ iGen:
Fragility
(we are easily hurt; includes the idea that words can be “unsafe”)
Emotional Reasoning
(we can trust our feelings to guide us)
Us vs. Them
(we, the “good” people, are constantly fighting the “evil” people)
As one of the oldest of Gen Z, I notice that while the damage is most apparent in university culture, it pervades every aspect of our lives. Luckily, in identifying the problems, Lukianoff and Haidt move us closer to solutions. The truth is healing.
While those connected to the academic system may be interested already, I highly recommend The Coddling of the American Mind to everyone. These untruths are not isolated to universities! They are in your community, even in your home. Go read this book so that you learn to identify them, correct them, and thrive in the truth.
Have you read The Coddling of the American Mind? If so, tell me your thoughts in the comments or DM me @science.magnifies on Instagram! When have you witnessed one of these untruths cause damage?
Science Magnifies 