<p>Colleges across the country are wrestling with student requests for what are known as “trigger warnings,” explicit alerts that class materials might upset them because of past trauma.</p>
<p>Oh, for crying out loud. Is everyone a special snowflake now? This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.</p>
<p>"The debate has left many academics fuming, saying that professors should be trusted to use common sense and that being provocative is part of their mandate. "</p>
<p>Common sense - ha! When colleges and universities find a way to instill that in all of the faculty, I will eat my computer desk.</p>
<p>It must be pretty hard to study any kind of humanities or social studies without encountering sexual misconduct, racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and/or other issues of privilege and oppression that the advocates of such warnings want to see warned about.</p>
<p>So such warnings will just be added to the syllabus template that faculty of humanities and social studies courses start their syllabi with. Just like the admonitions against cheating, such warnings will end up everywhere, and routinely ignored.</p>
<p>Sciences are not exempt. My son happened to take a look at his younger sister’s physics homework the other day and said it gave him hideous flashbacks. 
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<p>I’m intuitively inclined to be very judgmental due to the fact that trigger warnings have proliferated due to social media (i.e. tumblr), partially due to many people having no understanding of trigger warnings.</p>
<p>On the other hand, sometimes advanced warnings of how disturbing some texts are would be appreciated so I know what I’m getting myself into. Here’s a contemporary example to illustrate this: my friend’s mother saw Black Swan thinking it was a feel-good ballet movie. That viewing must have been quite an experience. </p>
<p>Would mathematics come with a trigger warning as well? It reminds me of my severe boredom in all of my math classes, and also happens to be very traumatic. </p>
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<p>When biology encounters the topic of sexual reproduction, would a warning be wanted?</p>
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<p>The issue isn’t simply one about putting up trigger warnings. The fear is that professors will water down the syllabus, in an effort to avoid complaints and reviews. The kids are less likely to be challenged with uncomfortable information and opinions. </p>
<p>This is ridiculous. I can see warnings for some things, like graphic descriptions or depictions of sexual assault or violence, but the idea of warning for everything that could make someone slightly uncomfortable (racism, ableism, cissexism, sexism, etc) is way, way over the top. Not to mention that PTSD triggers can be any number of things, are very individual, and are often seemingly innocuous–there is no conceivable way to warn for them all.</p>
<p>How far back would you go? Should there be a warning on the Itsy Bitsy Spider rhyme?</p>
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There was a course called “reproduction biology” offered by the biology department at DS’s college. One of the professors who team-taught this course is an expert in the area about how difficult older women tend to have a hard time in getting pregnant. He “advised” the students to find SO, get married and “reproduce” earlier in their lives in order to prevent this from happening. I heard a female student left a comment online (on the class web site that allows the students to add comments after they have seen their grades) in which she accused the professor of encouraging them to get out and mate like rabbits.</p>
<p>Studying history from original source documents could be problematic for students who are easily offended.</p>
<p>For example, the [declaration</a> of causes of secession](<a href=“http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html]declaration”>http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html) by some states leading to the US civil war can make for some interesting reading. It can also be uncomfortable for some students to read documents dripping with racism, and for other students to read documents that directly challenge commonly held beliefs that the seceding states did so for generic “states’ rights” reasons rather than with slavery being the major reason.</p>
<p>Sometimes I wonder whether I am simply lacking in sensibility, but when I see articles in student newspapers–just as an example–clearly addressing sexual assault prefaced by “trigger warnings” I wonder exactly how dumb people have to be.</p>
<p>I consider myself to be a staunch feminist, but sometimes I despair at the stuff that emerges from contemporary gender studies. Perhaps I am simply a dinosaur.</p>
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<p>It is only common sense that a difficult woman will have a hard time finding a boyfriend or husband.</p>
<p>Just going the way of movies or TV shows–DLSV label on a book would work. Add a “C” for “Classic” with maybe old mores and ways for all you special snowflakes with sensitive souls."</p>
<p>Or a “G”–google this book, read the spark notes, read the flap on the book…</p>
<p>Sorghum–too funny–but most older women become difficult from HAVING a boyfriend or husband…</p>
<p>I view this as unnecessary, but sure. Allow the professors to put a little disclaimer on their syllabi. </p>
<p>This course will test your comfort levels and cause you to reach out of your bubble. As it should.</p>
<p>I took a course last semester where we discussed a controversial topic every week. I felt uncomfortable many times, and I am grateful for that. It allowed me to question my beliefs, to question my positions, even to question my reactions to certain statements! Students need to be challenged mentally and emotionally. </p>
<p>I understand the need for a productive environment for all students involved in this learning process we call college, but I keep flip-flopping between “Get over it and challenge yourself” and “Warnings should be included”.</p>
<p>It seems to me that colleges should simply issue the following generic trigger warning: Some students may feel uncomfortable when exposed to readings for courses at this University. Those with such concerns are urged to review the syllabus for any course under consideration, and then to check the internet for summaries of the readings to determine if those readings may cause issues for the student. This will allow the student to be prepared or, if necessary, to choose a difference class.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is entirely ridiculous–I can remember issues even in high school, of whether a student should be required to dissect a live frog or not. The syllabus should be specific enough for students to understand what is involved in the course. Thus (for example) a course on novels should list what the novels are–that should be sufficient.</p>
<p>@Consolation, you’re not a dinosaur, just a critical thinker. Maybe that means the same thing these days?</p>