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The Coddling of the American Mind
Book

The Coddling of the American Mind

How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Penguin Press, 2018 more...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Innovative
  • Well Structured

Recommendation

Academicians Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue that parents and schools overprotect kids by trying to shield them from emotional distress. They find that colleges institutionalize intolerance by penalizing students, staff and faculty for speech someone deems offensive, even if the offense is inadvertent. The internet generation of students dominates today’s colleges, and the media sums them up as victims of overprotection and depression. These essays (written pre-pandemic) draw intriguing – if controversial – conclusions about stifling speech on campus and the hazards of overprotecting upcoming generations.

Take-Aways

  • Parents weaken kids by overprotecting them, and now colleges coddle them, too.
  • “Three Great Untruths” pervade many colleges, high schools and households.
  • Tiny doses of threats enable children to become more resilient.

About the Authors

Greg Lukianoff is president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). He also wrote Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate and Freedom from SpeechJonathan Haidt is Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Sloan School of Business. He also wrote The Righteous Mind and The Happiness Hypothesis.