Something is going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and afraid to speak honestly. How did this happen? First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in … have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths are incompatible with basic psychological principles, as well as ancient wisdom from many cultures. They interfere with healthy development. Anyone who embraces these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—is less likely to become an autonomous adult able to navigate the bumpy road of life.
Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to produce these untruths. They situate the conflicts on campus in the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization, including a rise in hate crimes and off-campus provocation. They explore changes in childhood including the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade.
This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.
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Our behavior in society is not immune to the power of rational scientific analysis. Through that lens, prepare yourself for a candid look at the softening of America, and what we can do about it.
No one is omniscient or infallible, so a willingness to evaluate new ideas is vital to understanding our world. Yet universities, which ought to be forums for open debate, are developing a reputation for dogmatism and intolerance. Haidt and Lukianoff, distinguished advocates of freedom of expression, offer a deep analysis of what’s going wrong on campus, and how we can hold universities to their highest ideals.
How can we as a nation do a better job of preparing young men and women of all backgrounds to be seekers of truth and sustainers of democracy? In The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt provide a rigorous analysis of this perennial challenge as it presents itself today, and offer thoughtful prescriptions for meeting it. What’s more, the book models the virtues and practical wisdom its authors rightly propose as the keys to progress. Lukianoff and Haidt teach young people—and all of us—by example as well as precept.
A compelling and timely argument against attitudes and practices that, however well-intended, are damaging our universities, harming our children and leaving an entire generation intellectually and emotionally ill-prepared for an ever-more fraught and complex world. A brave and necessary work.
I lament the title of this book, as it may alienate the very people who need to engage with its arguments and obscures its message of inclusion. Equal parts mental health manual, parenting guide, sociological study, and political manifesto, it points to a positive way forward of hope, health, and humanism. I only wish I had read it when I was still a professor and a much younger mother.
The authors, both of whom are liberal academics — almost a tautology on today’s campuses — do a great job of showing how ‘safetyism’ is cramping young minds. Students are treated like candles, which can be extinguished by a puff of wind. The goal of a Socratic education should be to turn them into fires, which thrive on the wind. Instead, they are sheltered from anything that could cause offence. . . Their advice is sound. Their book is excellent. Liberal parents, in particular, should read it.
This book is hands-down one of the best, most important books for today’s adult readers, and I’d even recommend it for high school students. This book unravels the influences that are causing problems with critical thinking and civility in today’s society. The Coddling of the American Mind is in my top 5 books of all time, and I consider Jonathan Haidt to be one of the best thinkers today.
Great book. A few places I quibbled with, but mostly I really appreciated it. Would love to know, as a former play therapist, why they referred to play therapy as “play” therapy, though.
Very helpful book to understand what is going wrong about the education of children and young people nowadays
Very realistic very interesting makes you really think and reflect what is happening here in America.
A must read for all ages!
A book everyone should read, especially new parents.
Possibly the most important research based book on the crisis on America’s College Campuses regarding the dwindling state of America’s youth to face real life challenges. Anyone with teenagers should read it now!
One of the best nonfiction books I have ever read. Really informative and eye-opening. Helps me to see through a lot of the untruth and false narratives and ideas that are becoming very popular in our time.
Another great book from Hadit. The book shows so many problems we have in the world today and some helpful hints to raising children. Part three of the book gives practical advice in dealing with safetyism and over protective parenting. I found that his advice goes hand in hand with much of the neuroscience and research that have been found in recent years.
Finally some practical solutions for developing students for the real world. An exceptional analysis of how wrong headed thinking ( Great untruths) has pervaded school and university environments, leaving students unprepared for life’s challenges, much needed free expression and civil discourse. The text provides rich examples. The suggestion that ancient wisdom and tenets of modern CBT-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be a healthier way forward is a good one. Excellent footnotes, citations, bibliography and conclusion.
What an important point to discuss how can children explore risk adventure and adversity if every possible sceanario is controlled br parents yes we fall down and need to teach our children how to get up again and again how to explore the world and how not being perfect leads to growth in reality rather than fantasy and illusion that the world revolves around us every parent and teacher should read Mr Haidts book
The problems we are encountering with “free speech.” What rights do I have to be protected from insults, or counter cultural views? Are we overprotecting our youth, to be weak in mental resilience? What are the limits of free speech?
As a high school teacher, I am seeing how “Coddling” will not prepare our students for the future.
Wonderfully eye-opening! An astute observation of the changing nature of language and its profound (and deeply disturbing) effect on contemporary political discourse.