The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

The authors describe an imaginary trip to Greece, where they hike up a mountain to obtain wisdom from Misoponos, the Oracle of Koalemos. Misoponos declares, “What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker” (2), “Always trust your feelings,” and “Life is a battle between good people and evil people” (3). In fact, these are the “three Great Untruths that seem to have spread widely in recent years” (4) in American homes, high schools, and colleges.

To be a Great Untruth, a saying must do three things: “It contradicts ancient wisdom [...] It contradicts modern psychological research on well-being. It harms the individuals and communities who embrace it” (4). The Great Untruths listed above lead to increases in psychological problems, conformity of thought on college campuses, and a culture of hatred and shaming.

In the past, administrators regulate campus communication against racist and sexist speech, and students sometimes resist such restrictions. In modern times, the drive to suppress speech comes from the students, who heckle speakers they disapprove of and demand “protection from material that they believed could jeopardize their mental health by ‘triggering’ them, or making them ‘feel unsafe.’” (6)

Students are being taught the thinking