1) "The Coddling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. As they summarize:
In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like. Here’s why that’s disastrous for education — and mental health.2) "That's Not Funny! Today’s college students can’t seem to take a joke" by Caitlin Flanagan. From the article:
[T]hey wanted comedy that was 100 percent risk-free, comedy that could not trigger or upset or mildly trouble a single student. They wanted comedy so thoroughly scrubbed of barb and aggression that if the most hypersensitive weirdo on campus mistakenly wandered into a performance, the words he would hear would fall on him like a soft rain, producing a gentle chuckle and encouraging him to toddle back to his dorm, tuck himself in, and commence a dreamless sleep — not text Mom and Dad that some monster had upset him with a joke.Both of these are excellent, detailed analyses.
As I said on social media: "If you go to college, you should expect to be exposed to ideas you find disagreeable or even offensive. If you can't handle that, stay home. You can still learn a lot from watching YouTube videos from Khan Academy and Sesame Street."
