Rave: University of Chicago

[cardsfansince82]

I understand trying to get students not to hide behind the growing trend of "trigger warnings". That *could* be used to duck tough topics in class. However, I think it is ridiculous to remove safe spaces. Safe spaces, to my knowledge, don't have anything to do with actual classroom topics/participation. They are for students feelings overwhelmed by the things around them who are seeking comfort and recuperation. What is wrong with that???

I don't know. Some of those examples in the article AW posted are kind of ridiculous. It's fine to have counseling available, but to have a physical space set aside concurrently with a lecture or presentation is a bit much. I don't think that avoiding difficult discussions or tailoring the educational experience to any one student's needs is necessarily healthy or well rounded. It can become a crutch that won't be available in the work setting.

[GeddyWrox]

I understand trying to get students not to hide behind the growing trend of "trigger warnings". That *could* be used to duck tough topics in class. However, I think it is ridiculous to remove safe spaces. Safe spaces, to my knowledge, don't have anything to do with actual classroom topics/participation. They are for students feelings overwhelmed by the things around them who are seeking comfort and recuperation. What is wrong with that???

I don't know. Some of those examples in the article AW posted are kind of ridiculous. It's fine to have counseling available, but to have a physical space set aside concurrently with a lecture or presentation is a bit much. I don't think that avoiding difficult discussions or tailoring the educational experience to any one student's needs is necessarily healthy or well rounded. It can become a crutch that won't be available in the work setting.

If a class requires working through tough subject matter, then it is up to the student to understand that necessity. If they can't handle the subject matter then they shouldn't take the class. But to ban safe spaces, which have legitimate value to the health and well being of many students is drastic and unnecessary.

Also, unless you choose social work, health care or law enforcement, your career probably won't put you in an environment where you are regularly required to deal with tough/troubling content.

[stlouie_lipp]

I am just not sure what these colleges are really preparing their students for with the "safe zones" and "trigger warnings".

Are they going to run and hide in their career when they are challenged?

[obucard]

I am just not sure what these colleges are really preparing their students for with the "safe zones" and "trigger warnings".

Are they going to run and hide in their career when they are challenged?

Probably. Gotta love helicopter parenting.

[GeddyWrox]

I am just not sure what these colleges are really preparing their students for with the "safe zones" and "trigger warnings".

Are they going to run and hide in their career when they are challenged?

There's a difference between simply having your ideas challenged, and being forced to endure topics that bring up raw emotions about things like rape, abuse, racism, homophobia. None of those things belong in a workplace at all. I believe that's the intent of most "safe places".

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I am just not sure what these colleges are really preparing their students for with the "safe zones" and "trigger warnings".

Are they going to run and hide in their career when they are challenged?

There's a difference between simply having your ideas challenged, and being forced to endure topics that bring up raw emotions about things like rape, abuse, racism, homophobia. None of those things belong in a workplace at all. I believe that's the intent of most "safe places".

That's kind of what I understood, and everyone is different. So, this is surely beneficial for some people.

But, it's naive to think that rape, abuse, racism, and homophobia do not exist in the workplace and/or real world.

It doesn't even have to be one of those. It's almost a given that at some point during a person's career, and probably more than once, there are going to be contentious meetins, ass chewings, etc that make you want to crawl into a hole and hide. I've been through two such meetings and I can honestly say that the more experience you have in them, the better you'll be able to handle them.

For instance, and it's obvious that anecdotes aren't data/prove right or wrong, but for instance I had a professor that one time accused me of cheating. And, he was a real sob. I mean, he would get in your face and argue with you in a completely unprofessional manner. But, that's just how he was. He accused me of cheating and it became a heated shouting as I tried to point out that I had worked with another person and we came in together obviously working together and had a conversation with the very professor who was yelling at the tiem about an assignment. Obviously we both did the work and happened to have the same answer....which is completely logical and within the rules. After about 5 minutes of shouting, everything finally got resolved.

It really unnerved me. But, I learned that...yeah, sometimes you jsut have to get your point across no matter how uncomfortable you are.

Fast forward 12 years and I was sitting in a mayors office who was yelling at me about a survey being wrong. Well, yeah, it was wrong and I was in the process of fixing it. But, I nor my company did the original survey. And, the mayor had explicityly told me not to get a new survey done because he didn't wnat to pay for it. So, after about 3 minutes of him flying off the handle, I finally was able to respond and tell him why he was wrong...which isn't an easy thing to do after being belittled and yelled at. So much easier just to shrink away and get out of there. But, that's not what is needed.

Life isn't fair and as much as we work to make it better, it never will be a euphoria. So, people will at some point need to be able to face harsh realities, criticisms, and uncomfortable topics even if they are the victim and it is not fair. We can't just live in a world without conflicts. And, we should strive to not always run away from conflicts. People are different and they will always exist everywhere.

[redbirdjazzz]

When trigger warnings are useful is in cases of PTSD and similar disorders, wherein any unexpected mention could conceivably provoke a real, debilitating reaction. In general, I think it's better for people with these problems to register with the campus's disability office, and talk to each individual professor about possible issues that could come up in the course of the semester, than to require professors to make blanket statements at the outset of a class.

[wart57]

The safe space, Ms. Byron explained, was intended to give people who might find comments “troubling” or “triggering,” a place to recuperate. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opini ... .html?_r=0

I need a safe space at my office. I love cookies, play-doh, and bubbles, and I mean who doesn't love a video of frolicking puppies?

[Leroy]

Did they have safe spaces when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

[33anda3rd]

College, and getting a college degree, is just showing a future employer you can jump through hoops and do assigned work.

Getting through the college experience should be a time in which young people broaden their horizons a bit by being exposed to diversity of people and ideas that they have not previously. And (and I say this as a mega-liberal) if a college student is such a quivering little thing that he can't hear a differing opinion, even when that opinion is kind of ugly and socially back in the caveman era, then that's part of that college student's learning curve w/r/t diversity of people and ideas. That quivering little thing should be developing a shell for the real world in college that he'll carry through his life in work and the world rather than retreating from everything that offends him as a young person, which will just make him retreat and hide in life.