The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure

by Jonathan Haidt

college is quite possibly the best environment on earth in which to come face-to-face with people and ideas that are potentially offensive or even downright hostile.

pain is not the same thing as trauma.

A culture that allows the concept of “safety” to creep so far that it equates emotional discomfort with physical danger is a culture that encourages people to systematically protect one another from the very experiences embedded in daily life that they need in order to become strong and healthy.

Their focus on “emotional safety” leads many of them to believe that, as Twenge describes, “one should be safe not just from car accidents and sexual assault but from people who disagree with you.”36

discomfort is not danger.

“Education should not be intended to make people comfortable; it is meant to make them think.”

“where there’s no name for a problem, you can’t see a problem, and when you can’t see a problem, you pretty much can’t solve it.”61

some portion of what is commonly called political correctness is just being thoughtful or polite—using words in a way that is considerate to others.86

I don’t want you to be safe ideologically. I don’t want you to be safe emotionally. I want you to be strong. That’s different. I’m not going to pave the jungle for you. Put on some boots, and learn how to deal with adversity. I’m not going to take all the weights out of the gym; that’s the whole point of the gym. This is the gym.

Words that give rise to stress or fear for members of some groups are now often regarded as a form of violence.

“The problem with this ‘everything is dangerous’ outlook is that over-protectiveness is a danger in and of itself.”

When you combine peer pressure, shaming, and the threat of arrest, it’s no wonder that so many American parents simply don’t let their kids out of their sight anymore, even though many of those same parents report that their fondest memories of childhood were unsupervised outdoor adventures with friends.

Children who are deprived of play are less likely to develop into physically and socially competent teens and adults.7

There will always be inconvenient facts for any political agenda, and you can judge a university, or an academic field, by how it handles its dissenters.