The Coddling Of The American Mind (Trigger Warning Article In The Atlantic...)

i really, really do not like the way that author stereotypes his students into a few stock roles and then proceeds to explain how the students in those roles inhabit the social structure etc. of course students can fall into groups, but in my experience those groups are both more numerous and more complex than his sketch allows.

he's right about this, i suppose:

Too many of us have spent an exhausting semester mediating between those two kinds of students, only to discover at the end that both gave you negative evaluations: one saying that you inappropriately allowed your personal politics to influence classroom discussion, one saying you didn’t do enough to make the classroom a safe space for everyone

but he also seems to cast anyone who might find the "activist's" (telling choice of word there) in-class objections irritating or not-useful as "apathetic" and elitist. granted even dumb comments/"contributions" can be made very useful for discussion, but sometimes people can get really bullheaded and insistent that the conversation be steered back in the direction they wish, and sometimes that is not productive. i've experienced such folks as a student and a teacher.

anyway.

this point in re student evaluations is very important:

Maybe the instructor really, really deserves that bad evaluation. But students, in their attempts to protest oppression and marginalization in the university, often inadvertently perpetuate it. What students and instructors have in common is that we must participate in a system that often disproportionately punishes the very people we’re hoping to advocate for.

she.

i don't see why there's anything wrong with talking about student 'types' heuristically. i would consider it a sketch of knowledge-in-practice that the teacher has, and not at all exhaustive of it, meant more to represent the fact of that knowledge to others than to communicate its content.

it's the nature of the 'types' that she describes and the way she slots them into larger political forces... it seems both overly simplistic and a little uncharitable.

I taught Antigone just last semester. And I hope that students never stop being disturbed by it. If you’re mocking students for having a strong emotional response to that text, you haven’t read it.

this feels like consistently the key point to me. some literature is supposed to fuck you up. ppl that don't understand that don't actually know the literature v. well. the same conservatives freaking out over trigger warnings or whatever with regards to this stuff are equally likely to denounce teaching entirely modern lit that's actually no more fucked up if you sort of clear away the cobwebs of time.

https://twitter.com/ChicagoMaroon/status/768561465183862785

give them a medal already

hoo boy

i kept reading for the "That said..." graf but came it not

something kind of irresponsible about the scorched-earth (by academia standards) tone of that letter. there are good reasons to oppose "trigger warnings" (mostly because even restricted to their original context, that of PTSD sufferers, there are no good studies that suggest they are valuable), but the letter sounds more like the dean is settling imaginary scores than actually addressing policy questions.

yes

"If I want to take your money and give it to somebody I wish I was friends with as a massive honorarium for reading pablum at your graduation you'll STFU and like it"

There's only one group of people being coddled here.

If I had to guess, I'd put the University of Chicago low on the list of schools who have problems with trigger warnings, safe spaces, and the rest of that kind of thing.

none dare call it signaling

After seeing that thing, I want to start a thread, but this is a good place as any...

Is there literally ONE good argument AGAINST "safe spaces." I honestly don't understand why any rational, empathetic human beiung would have a problem with a group of kids getting together on their own time to hang out in a room where someone isn't allowed to scream "FAGGOT" at them or whatever

i think it's the idea that the university would sanction it, or rather would offer it. the idea is somewhat counterintuitive if you think one of the main functions of higher education is to engage multiple perspectives.

Can you create a safe space? I thought students chose those spaces.

I mean, I'm not sure an administrator saying, "This space is YOURS" works.

I dunno, maybe the thought pattern is "safe spaces = political correctness = not able to name things correctly = not able to fight evil things, because naming is critical to targeting = evil or morally lax for not fighting evil"?

Mix in with a lot of the standard modern aggrieved entitlement that bristles or just explodes when someone not a tribally accepted authority tells them not to do a thing. Similar to fuckheads freaking out of Michelle Obama's efforts into improve youth nutrition and exercise levels. Ressentiment fucks with a lot of people's heads.

I mean, I assume a "safe space" is like a conceptual thing, like Here's where the trans students or rape survivors or whatever can meet for an hour after class and have a conversation; not like a LITERAL CHALKED-OUT TERRITORY where you can't repeat a Sarah Silverman joke if you step in its boundaries

i think some colleges have actual rooms though, don't they? like, actual real places. i think i read that somewhere. maybe i just dream this stuff now...

http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/20-great-value-colleges-safe-spaces/

The main purpose of a Safe Space program is to visibly mark people and places that are “safe” for LGBT students. This is usually accomplished through a sticker with a pink triangle, rainbow flag, or other recognizable LGBT symbol on it. When students and staff put stickers on their lockers, backpacks, binders, or office doors, it stands out as an affirmation of LGBT people and lets others know that they are a safe person to approach for support and guidance.

https://www.sierracollege.edu/student-services/support-programs/safe-space.php

I thought the issue was that sometimes it's not just "a group of kids getting together on their own time to hang out in a room", that students are demanding that the whole university should be a "safe space" and this is antithetical to studying/debating certain concepts and ideas?

the woke version of "why can't the whole plane be made out of the black box" sounds apocryphal to me

"Safe spaces" seem very different than banning "unsafe" opinions from campus altogether. The fact that UChicago conflated them there undermines their whole point -- an environment that was truly welcoming of all perspectives wouldn't be afraid of like-minded students gathering in a way they choose. I guess this is the price of being a hard as fuck tuff guy college administrator

And University of Chicago was the Number One Safe Space school on the thing skot posted :O

http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/20-great-value-colleges-safe-spaces/

The Office of LGBTQ Student Life at the University of Chicago offers a Safe Space program fosters an inclusive environment that challenges oppression and provides support for LGBT students. “Safe Space creates welcoming physical spaces on campus where LGBTQ students can have a conversation with students, staff and faculty knowing that they have a basic understanding of the challenges these students face in developing their identities.”

The university launched its Center for Identity + Inclusion as the home of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA), LGBTQ Student Life and now Student Support Services, a new office focused on supporting first generation, low-income and undocumented students. The Center’s mission is to create intentionally diverse and inclusive communities to bring together students and members of the campus community of call backgrounds.

ugh that all sounds so horrible, imagine gay kids getting together to have a CONVERSATION with someone who has UNDERSTANDING, i'm gonna fucking puke

lol whiney

mostly because even restricted to their original context, that of PTSD sufferers, there are no good studies that suggest they are valuable

maybe i'm misunderstanding you, but this seems like kind of a weird standard to which to hold an instructor. like, you're trying to find what seems like the right way to run your classroom, the one that produces the most helpful and healthy educational environment... pretty sure most of the things you're gonna do aren't backed by 'studies' but that doesn't mean you get no results with them or that going "well, hell, i'm just going to try and trigger PTSD in everybody in sight" is going to be a good idea either. are there studies showing that it's valuable to go around on the first day and ask everybody what name they prefer to go by, or their favorite food from back home as an icebreaker? i dunno? but i've been trying it?

If I had to guess, I'd put the University of Chicago low on the list of schools who have problems with trigger warnings, safe spaces, and the rest of that kind of thing.

they have a deep strain of conservatism, or multiple strains, on the campus tho. i haven't read much about this but it seems the opposition could stem from that in any number of ways.

Yes, that's what I was getting at--that its conservatism probably doesn't attract a large enough, vocal opposition to warrant a pre-emptive strike against Triggers and Thought Police or whatever it is they are imagining.

I haven't seen any sourcing of this letter past this initial tweet or any communication from U Chicago referencing it. John (Jay) Ellison is the dean for sure - he's from Harvard and has been at U Chicago for two years. Not wanting to get all jet fuel can't melt steel beams on this but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this was a hoax/prank/shop, the bit about "canceling invited speakers" is so r00sh-y that it feels like a giveaway.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/25/u-chicago-warns-incoming-students-not-expect-safe-spaces-or-trigger-warnings

i try to not be too bitter about the u of c on the internet, but let me just say that the tone of that letter reeks of that institution to me

xp I know, but the image is the initial tweet. I don't think anybody's reported receiving such a letter - on twitter or elsewhere - besides the Maroon, the U Chicago publication that tweeted the picture used in that article. Not saying "it couldn't be" -- it could! -- but it's weird that there's just the one source, not a number of students/people saying "I got this letter." The people who got it would be 18/19-year-olds - not exactly too green to be putting up "I got it, too" on Twitter/Tumblr/etc. NB I did not go to U of C and defer to horseshoe's gut feeling here.

i don't know; bitterness can distort one's perception of reality

not saying journalists are incapable of being hoaxed, but jaschik is an experienced, professional journalist, so

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-university-of-chicago-safe-spaces-letter-met-20160825-story.html

i think it may be in the u of c bylaws that all missives must contain the word "rigor" or "rigorous"

on the other hand this guy seems like just the dude to do it

https://storify.com/WormMD/my-lunch-with-john-jay

also, this has nothing to do with the thread (or maybe it does?) but can we just looooool at the university of chicago:

https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2016/06/07/new-research-center-becomes-first-focus-wisdom?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=aug2016

wtf

that's not really a thing, it's just research-funding driven innovation ('nobody has really studied…') in standard stuff on practical rationality and moral psychology that is bolstered by up to date social scientific findings. boring af

it's just the name that makes me laugh

has any rapper used "trigger warning" for a mixtape title yet?

i think Lil Poopy has.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPLE92mBOjc