Dakotah Sprankle

February 5, 2021

English Composition 110

Michael Cripps

Project 1 – Dweck vs. Lukianoff & Haidt

         In class we talked about a Ted Talk and an article. The Ted Talk was called “The Power of Yet” which is narrated by Carol Dweck. Dweck focuses on fixed and growth mindsets mainly on children. The article was called “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Johnathan Haidt. Which talks about how Lukianoff and Haidt think trigger warnings shouldn’t be necessary in school because it can affect them later in life when they don’t get one. Dweck says “ I gave 10-year olds problems that were slightly too hard for them. Some of them reacted in a shockingly positive way. They said things like, ‘I love a challenge,’ or, ‘You know, I was hoping this would be informative.’ They understood their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset.” (00:36). Dweck also says “But other students felt it was tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgement, and they failed.” (00:36).

I think that it is important to consider trigger warnings in higher education because teachers and students should be warned that there could be someone in their class who has experienced a past trauma that could set off a trigger. This is also important because it can help with the growth mindset of traumatized students, because without a trigger warning the student could shut down and not complete the work with that idea. For non-traumatized students trigger warnings help their growth mindset because they would have to put themselves in the other student’s shoes to understand why it’s either hard for that student, or for why they were given a warning. What is a trigger warning you ask? Well, in “The Coddling Of The American Mind” Lukianoff and Haidt say “The idea that words (or smells or any sensory input) can trigger searing memories of past trauma- and intense fear that it may be repeated-”(para. 24). I feel trigger warnings should be used in higher education because there could be a student or students in the class that could be affected by the topic, if not warned or sat down to tell the class ahead of time. So, this is what we are doing in the future, so I’m mentally preparing you and other students, so you aren’t surprised about the topic. If they end up surprised with a certain topic the student could shut down and refuse to listen or engage in the class about the topic (Dweck fixed mindset) For students with no past trauma it’s easier for them to engage and participate in class. But it’s also a challenge for them so they can work on putting each other in another person’s shoes.

           A call for trigger warning is not a product of a fixed mindset because it doesn’t give children a way to grow from what’s happened. So say there weren’t trigger warnings that would be growing a growth mindset. So, instead of a fixed mindset which is basically to tell students and or children they can’t grow from not having a growth mindset. Lukianoff and Haidt claim that many of the developments on campuses or on school property prepare students “poorly for professional life, which often demands a type of engagement with people and ideas someone might find uncomfortable or wrong” (para.8). I believe this quote isn’t technically wrong, but I don’t feel like they’re necessarily wrong in giving trigger warnings in school. It’s about how we handle them or give them. Yes, they won’t have them in their professional life or in a workplace. However, if we teach that it won’t be as poorly preparing them for the world. I’m basically saying if I was a teacher or professor, I’d say “Hey I’m giving you a warning that some of you students may not be comfortable with this topic, we are working on. However, just because I can give you this warning in school doesn’t mean you’ll get a warning at all in the outside world.” This shows that if we handle them differently it could help the students in higher education be more prepared for their professional future and when it comes to the workplace.

WORKS CITED

Dweck, Carol. “Carol Dweck: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve | TED Talk.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, TED, Nov. 2014, https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve.

Lukianoff, Greg, and Jonathan Haidt. “How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus – The Atlantic.” The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/