Trigger Warnings
Trigger Warnings: A Threat to Education in America
Imagine a world where anything could be considered offensive. Now imagine that world full of college students who are apart of a generation coddled to a point of disgust. In this world, the slightest challenge of a college student's ideas is considered offensive and disgraceful. This is the world that is being built right before my eyes. The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board wrote an essay titled “Warning: College Students, This Editorial May Upset You” wherein the topic of “triggers” is heavily spoken of. Triggers are essentially any subject topic in a class that could be found offensive to certain people. The editorial discusses how college professors are now being told they must warn students so as to not trigger them. The students can leave class if there is a possible trigger in the lecture and no points will be deducted. This is a disgrace to our bedrock of education. The real world, one without professors and people helping you through every step of the way, is mean, dirty, offensive, and unfair. College students are not learning what it is like to live in the real-world. The fundamental base of College and how it opens your mind to new ideas would essentially vanish if all professors started to offer trigger warnings. Some classes, even, would fully be eliminated if this were to happen. Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University, says in his article “A Warning Against Trigger Warnings” that at the beginning of each semester of his class, Constitutional Law II, he tells the students “I don’t believe in trigger warnings. But if I did, I would have to include one for virtually every day of this course. We are going to cover subjects like slavery, segregation, sexism, suicide, the death penalty, and abortion. There is no way to teach this course without discussing these issues. And there is no good way to cover them without also considering a wide range of views about these subjects and their
relationship to the Constitution.” (Somin) A great example of how a whole class would be forgotten simply because students are afraid of being challenged on ideas that need to be challenged.
According to the most basic understanding of psychology, helping people with anxiety disorders avoid the things they fear is misguided. Simple understanding of psychology is a fundamental step into understanding why trigger warnings are a harmful thing in universities across America. When a patient seeks medical attention from a psychologist or therapist they generally listen to what the doctor has to say, obviously. When someone with anxiety seeks out help from a trained professional on how to overcome the anxiety, the doctor simply does not tell them to avoid what makes them anxious. Instead, the doctor instructs them to face their fears and stand up to what causes their distress. I know first hand how dealings of this workout. When I was in the eighth grade, I witnessed my teacher die and be brought back to life in front of my eyes as the paramedics gave him mouth-to-mouth and shocked him into life again with a defibrillator. I was traumatized for a long time after witnessing this happen two feet away from me from when he collapsed to when he was breathing again. I attended therapy sessions to get the anxiety out of my psyche. One of the things I specifically remember my therapist telling me to do was to picture the event in great detail and nearly relive the experience. This helped me realize that I had nothing to fear, that it was simply the shock of the moment that caused my stress. If the doctor didn’t help me directly face my fears, I would still be having issues with it.
College is not a place to be comfortable. Tony Robbins once said “If you want a muscle to grow you must lift something out of your comfort zone. Push beyond what is comfortable or there will be no growth.” College students are muscles and when a professor challenges their ideas or frightens their very understanding of something, they become uncomfortable. This is a good thing, because without discomfort, there is no growth. College students attend college with the intent of growing as scholars and as human beings. Coddling, protecting, or even warning students when they might be challenged is a threat to our very educational system in which we depend on for our future. College professors need to stick with what has worked for the past century and teach students what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. A wave of new age education could threaten our future. This wave holds trigger warnings and new ideas that challenge students. College students across universities in the US need to buckle up and get ready for the real world. The real world is a grave and dangerous place, but with the proper education and preparation, all college students can succeed in a fulfilling life without being triggered.
Imagine a world where anything could be considered offensive. Now imagine that world full of college students who are apart of a generation coddled to a point of disgust. In this world, the slightest challenge of a college student's ideas is considered offensive and disgraceful. This is the world that is being built right before my eyes. The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board wrote an essay titled “Warning: College Students, This Editorial May Upset You” wherein the topic of “triggers” is heavily spoken of. Triggers are essentially any subject topic in a class that could be found offensive to certain people. The editorial discusses how college professors are now being told they must warn students so as to not trigger them. The students can leave class if there is a possible trigger in the lecture and no points will be deducted. This is a disgrace to our bedrock of education. The real world, one without professors and people helping you through every step of the way, is mean, dirty, offensive, and unfair. College students are not learning what it is like to live in the real-world. The fundamental base of College and how it opens your mind to new ideas would essentially vanish if all professors started to offer trigger warnings. Some classes, even, would fully be eliminated if this were to happen. Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University, says in his article “A Warning Against Trigger Warnings” that at the beginning of each semester of his class, Constitutional Law II, he tells the students “I don’t believe in trigger warnings. But if I did, I would have to include one for virtually every day of this course. We are going to cover subjects like slavery, segregation, sexism, suicide, the death penalty, and abortion. There is no way to teach this course without discussing these issues. And there is no good way to cover them without also considering a wide range of views about these subjects and their
relationship to the Constitution.” (Somin) A great example of how a whole class would be forgotten simply because students are afraid of being challenged on ideas that need to be challenged.
According to the most basic understanding of psychology, helping people with anxiety disorders avoid the things they fear is misguided. Simple understanding of psychology is a fundamental step into understanding why trigger warnings are a harmful thing in universities across America. When a patient seeks medical attention from a psychologist or therapist they generally listen to what the doctor has to say, obviously. When someone with anxiety seeks out help from a trained professional on how to overcome the anxiety, the doctor simply does not tell them to avoid what makes them anxious. Instead, the doctor instructs them to face their fears and stand up to what causes their distress. I know first hand how dealings of this workout. When I was in the eighth grade, I witnessed my teacher die and be brought back to life in front of my eyes as the paramedics gave him mouth-to-mouth and shocked him into life again with a defibrillator. I was traumatized for a long time after witnessing this happen two feet away from me from when he collapsed to when he was breathing again. I attended therapy sessions to get the anxiety out of my psyche. One of the things I specifically remember my therapist telling me to do was to picture the event in great detail and nearly relive the experience. This helped me realize that I had nothing to fear, that it was simply the shock of the moment that caused my stress. If the doctor didn’t help me directly face my fears, I would still be having issues with it.
College is not a place to be comfortable. Tony Robbins once said “If you want a muscle to grow you must lift something out of your comfort zone. Push beyond what is comfortable or there will be no growth.” College students are muscles and when a professor challenges their ideas or frightens their very understanding of something, they become uncomfortable. This is a good thing, because without discomfort, there is no growth. College students attend college with the intent of growing as scholars and as human beings. Coddling, protecting, or even warning students when they might be challenged is a threat to our very educational system in which we depend on for our future. College professors need to stick with what has worked for the past century and teach students what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. A wave of new age education could threaten our future. This wave holds trigger warnings and new ideas that challenge students. College students across universities in the US need to buckle up and get ready for the real world. The real world is a grave and dangerous place, but with the proper education and preparation, all college students can succeed in a fulfilling life without being triggered.