The Coddling of the American Mind: A review and reflection.

The Book
Lukianoff, G., & Haidt, J. (2018). The coddling of the American mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure. N.Y.: Penguin Press.

Changes
As recent as 2015 and up till the present there have been powerful and disruptive forces at work in Western society typified by widespread unrest, the depth of which has not been seen since the 60s. During this period we have witnessed the fragmentation of society as formerly shared core beliefs are challenged and discarded, institutional child abuse,  Black Lives Matter,  #MeToo, Terrorism, Trump, Far right protests, and the progressive left's disruption of free speech on campuses. For the young, future economic prospects are uncertain with many changes brought about by globalisation, wage stagnation, high University fees, and artificial intelligence. These changes have meant that many of the jobs that exist today will be automated and redundant.

Overprotection
Against this backdrop is the modern obsession of parents in overprotecting their children. Lukiaoff and Haidt believe that this obsession with the overprotection of children is one cause contributing to a  rapid rise in the number of adolescents suffering from depression, anxiety, and suicide. Nietzsche once said that "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." However, the children of the iGeneration are not getting this message. The message that iGens have been reared to believe is "What doesn't kill me makes me weaker." This is an unconscious slogan that reinforces the concept of safetyism: the widespread notion that children need to be protected from the harmful effects of unsafe spaces, bullying, child abuse, and hurtful words. Instead of producing a generation of healthy young adults our society has nurtured a generation of young adults who are susceptible to depression, anxiety and, in some cases are more prone to suicide than previous generations. The unrealistic hyper-concern for safety promotes emotionally fragile young people who exhibit traits of unreasonable fear and a tendency for a lack of sufficient resilience to ward off mental distress.

Victimhood
Students today, for example,  are more likely to believe that misogyny and rape culture are endemic on college and university campuses. They are more likely to be immersed in an academic culture that propagates the notion of masculine toxicity and the poisoning effect of white male privilege. This heightened cultural perspective assumes that a person's privileged upbringing or tribal identity may prevent them from empathising with those that are viewed as belonging to a victimised group or groups. Often the so called people of privilege may inadvertently say things that are commonly referred to as microagressions that hurt others (see previous blog: Victimhood culture ). Universities in many Western countries foster a culture of safetyism that seeks to protect students from ideas that may challenge their beliefs and attitudes. Many of these campuses provide safe spaces where students can go to feel protected from harmful ideas. Another common strategy is to de-platform speakers with dangerous ideas that could be upsetting to students. This protected culture is so sanitising that it provides the conditions that enable a form of emotional bracket creep. Such a situation as this fosters the notion that almost anything can be perceived as harmful or violent.

Social media
'Those ascribing to victimhood culture see themselves as individuals or as disenfranchised group members who often take offence to opposing views of some privileged person or persons who use their position to disenfranchise their supposed victim or victims' (see a previous blog - Victimhood Culture). Anything that can be considered as an attack on student groups or as being offensive in any way may be an opportunity to exercise collective punishment by ostracising or stigmatising, often by labelling someone as being racist, or cis white males, for example. Social media has become an effective tool used to appeal to and influence group-think (or mob) mentality (see Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying's harrowing experiences at Evergreen State College - PART THREE: The hunted individual).

The digital social behaviours are often confrontational, adherents are inclined to be less inhibited in saying what they think about social issues. Those with opposing views are often shamed by using unsavoury language or specified derogatory labels. Those that are shamed in this way can incur the wrath of the mob and suffer an avalanche of citiscism for the perceived offence. Not only does this promote a group think mentality but also an intersectional reality whereby groups or tribes of victims intersect and support one another against the perceived oppressive opinions or violent ideas. The premise is that the more intersectional that you are the more social prestige you gain, for example, a trans person who is black will have more social and tribal credit that say a white, conservative male. The perception is those who are considered as belonging to more than one intersectional tribe may need more protection, affirmation and affirmative action by some compensatory process.

Over-parenting
The ME generation were fed on a diet of Dr Spock who emphasised that children should be permitted to develop at their own pace. This was often executed in a protected and scheduled fishbowl environment. However, when their children left home they would often feel like fish out of water and  not cope with the diversity of ideas in the real world. 'Always trust your feelings' is a typical phrase that iGenners would have heard time-and-again. The focus on feeling rather than reasoned thought makes this generation susceptible to conflicting emotions and an intolerance to the ideas of others.  

Expanded view
Lukianoff and Haidt give some suggestions as to how this situation can be alleviated with some creative thinking from parents, educators, schools and university administrators. We need to foster a sense of adventure and resilience by gradually giving our children freedom to venture beyond the over protective environment of the home. More opportunities to play with others rather than just through organised play dates. Schools need to have plenty of recess time so that children can learn how to socialise with diverse individuals. Parents and teachers need to limit the amount of time spent on screens and increase the child's experience of the outside environment; they should be taught how to manage risk. In terms of coping with others is the notion that when they draw a circle to exclude them they should draw a wider circle that includes them.

Links that you may find of interest:

Listening at the Great Awakening: Areo

PART THREE: The hunted individual

The Scruton tapes: an anatomy of a modern hit job: The Spectator

Interview by Brendan O'Neill with Johnathan Haidt: Fragility and Division: Sound Cloud

What is Meaning in the wake of Notre Dame?

Notre Dame-watercolour & acrylic-G. Woolley

Recap and going forward
In my other blog "Reading Comprehension" I have been concerned with the teaching of reading comprehension. Many of the ideas presented were associated with research for books that I had written. In contrast, this blog, focuses on a future book that I am in the process of planning and researching. At this point it does not have a name but it will focus on the essence of meaning and how, we as human beings, construct meanings as we interact with other beings and objects in our world. It will be concerned with perception, understanding and ontology.

To understand the meaning making process we need to dig deeply using fundamental religious, philosophical and scientific understandings. After all, comprehension is basically the act of gaining answers to questions that we like to ask ourselves. To ask foundational questions will enable us to begin to understand what is meant by meaning itself and what we mean when we ask what we or others mean. How do we interpret and construct meaning when we perceive something that elicits our attention during a particular instance?

Light bulb memories
The images that were firmly etched into our collective western mind with, for example, the shooting of John F. Kennedy and destruction of the twin towers in New York, could easily be recalled by those that are old enough to have seen the media pictures of the time broadcast around the world. These stark images are often referred to as 'light bulb' memories because they are almost as vivid as when we first saw them. Most people my age share those same images. Likewise, the recent burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral captured the collective attention of millions people, not only in the West but all around the world. I have painted (above) my impression of the destruction of this great icon and I am sure that you will instantly recognise it even though it is just a rough sketch. The burning of Notre Dame, no doubt is one of those light bulb moments that are etched into our collective minds. The vividness of that image in your mind is related to the intensity of the emotional impact of the event and its relationship to your world view.

Cultural understandings
We may all have a slightly different understanding of the significance of the burning of this great building but it has created a great deal of heightened interest and commentary via the news media. Whatever we make of these individual images it will, no doubt, position us all with some point of reference or shared meaning. History also records to some degree a shared understanding for those who have visited the Notre Dame Cathedral or for those that have studied French history, art history, history of Western Religion, or even the history of Western philosophy.

Significance of Notre Dame
The cathedral has an historic, religious, artistic, philosophical and cultural significance that goes far beyond the borders of modern France. It was built in the twelfth century (started in the year 1163) during a time when Christianity had spread throughout Europe and beyond the city dwellers and into rural peasantry. The building represented incredible engineering and scientific achievement. It took over one hundred years for it to be finished with an enormous amount of money, time and dedication. Those who designed, engineered, and started building would never see the results of their efforts in their lifetime. For many the dedication came from the idea that it would be a beacon to show the world the glory of the God of the Bible. At this time virtually the only literate people were the monks (certainly the only ones that could read latin) in the monasteries that proliferated throughout Western Europe. Monasticism during the Dark Ages reflected 'revelation' and 'reason' in partnership. The Monasteries became the storehouse for understanding revelation, exploring known knowledge while applying and modelling democratic social structures. It was the educated class of monks that introduced Western civilisation to Greek scientific learning and encouraged the scientific enquiry of 'God's creation' hence giving birth to modern science and democracy (see previous blog - Inventing the Individual).

The Cathedral, more than any other icon still standing, was the epitome of the  combination of revelation (scripture) with reason (Greek thought) (see Ben Shapiros book, 'The Right Side of History' for a broader understanding - future blog). Not only did this building exemplify two great understandings that would eventually become the root of the Enlightenment but it brought the the teachings of the Bible to the common man (mostly illiterate at that time) through the visual stories and images in the stainless glass windows, art works and statues that adorned the building. The building itself was intentionally designed so that when you stand inside (or even outside) your eyes were directed to the ceiling, the spire, and beyond so that it gave the viewer a sense of eternity and transcendence. During this time the medieval church became the centre of learning and established the first universities that would give momentum to revelation and reason. This Gothic building had the power to take us back in time to remind us of the roots of our civilisation and of the great leap forward in human progress.

Humanist Enlightenment
Look to the left beyond the edge of the picture (in real life as if you were standing there) you would see the Eiffel Tower nearby. This more recent structure epitomises the peak of Enlightenment engineering and together with the advent of Darwin's Origin of the Species, exemplified the partial severing of 'revelation' from 'reason'. Together, the Eiffel Tower and Darwin's theory highlighted man's ingenuity and the beginning of a separation from Europe's spiritual foundations. Two world wars and the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people during the last century led to disillusionment with modernism and humanism (I will explore this idea extensively in future book reviews).

Separation and decline
Even though scientific humanism (reason) has been dealt a near fatal blow, much like Christianity  (revelation) before it, there have been some attempts to revive this philosophical root. Since the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 the new atheists and the neo-humanists have attempted to regain the initiative by claiming that science contradicts or is in opposition to revelation. However, the majority of Americans, for example, do not believe in evolution: postmodernism has now replaced humanism as the dominant philosophical force. Waning interest in STEM subjects reflects a general lack of interest in Science. Could this be a result of reason being divorced from revelation? Study of the material world without purpose and meaning is sterile.

How the Mind Works: Book review and reflection
This has been somewhat of a long introduction to my present book review but it is also a condensation of the previous reflections. This book is the second book that I have recently read written by the neo-Enlightenment thinker, Steven Pinker. In his book Enlightenment Now (see an earlier blog) he endeavours to posit the idea that the Enlightenment was the sole foundation that produced the benefits of modern human progress. After reading extensively, I found this naive and misinformed (for example see Ben Shapiro: YouTube). The book is entitled, 'How the Mind Works'. 'The Times' comment on the cover stated, 'How the mind Works will change the way your mind works'. Well for me, it didn't! It was very unconvincing. Pinker refers to himself as a cognitive scientist (as I do) so I was hoping to gain a better understanding of my own research area. Unfortunately, Pinker's book seemed to be some sort of justification for the Darwinian notion of natural selection. There is no doubt that all creatures are designed with a facility to adapt to their environment otherwise existence on earth would be difficult (obviously some species are not able to adapt sufficiently or quick enough when there are environmental stresses). But to suggest that the human brain and physiology, in all its biochemical and biophysical complexity, is entirely the result of natural selection is a huge leap of faith and is restrictive to further exploration.

Shaky ground
This book is over 600 pages long and when your foundational premise (natural selection) is based on very shaky ground (which I will point out shortly) it is very hard to stay focussed. It was like reading a never ending story. In essence, he relies on Darwin's theory, Sam Harris's neo-Atheism, and  Dawkin's flawed thinking. Shapiro (see future post: Right Side of History: Part 1) claims that he uses circular thinking because he assumes that this assumption is correct he bases his subsequent arguments around that premise. An example Page 166) is what follows - "readers young enough to have had sex education or old enough to be reading articles about the prostrate may have noticed that the seminal ducts in men do not lead directly from the testes to the penis but snake up into the body and pass over the ureter before coming back down." Now, wait for it! This is where the Big Crunch comes! Let's continue! " That is because the testes of our reptilian ancestors were inside their bodies. The bodies of mammals are too hot for the production of sperm, so the testes gradually descended into a scrotum."

Natural selection
You might be convinced by this argument, I nearly brushed over it (maybe that is why I put the bush in the picture above) but I had recently had a radical robotic prostatectomy and I know that there are quite a few good reasons why the vas deferens is so long and why it snakes around. He goes on to say, unlike a human engineer, selection is incapable of good design. "Animals are clunking jalopies saddled with ancestral junk and occasionally blunder into barely serviceable solutions." The main idea behind this claim is that natural selection is random and there should be some residual evidence of natural accidents, or changes, such as the one imagined above. The argument is that there should be evidence of successful changes, unsuccessful changes, and changes that are in the process of a long transformation. The tonsils, the tail bone, and the appendix were proposed to evidence this notion until it was found that they actually did have important functions - the search goes on and no residual body elements appear. It should be noted, however, that there is evidence from the genome that we carry faults within the genes structures (see YouTube: interview with Dr John Sanford) but they are redundant and generally do not affect the characteristics of the species (except in the case of some diseases). The length of the vas deferens does not prove natural selection.

Thus Pinker provides a very faulty argument for natural selection, which is the foundation for all that follows in his book. There is a lot of backward reasoning starting with natural selection. It is easy to take something that exists in a particular environment and then do some backward engineering. For example, lets say that humans developed language because our ancestors, who were apes needed ... etc. Without evidence that can be replicated in the laboratory it allows for some interesting stories that sound incredible and often illogical.

Conclusion
Coming back to the Notre Dame Cathedral, what has this got to do with - How the mind works? Since Pinker's book seemed to be more about natural selection and a justification for humanism without faith, the Cathedral tells us a lot. After the French Revolution when the Humanist Enlightenment gained ground on the headless bodies of thousand that had been guillotined they seized many churches and cathedrals including Notre Dame, which they made into the Temple of Reason in which they placed busts of Greek philosophers in place of the crucifix and statues of Mary. However, this only lasted a couple of years until the guillotine caught up with them also, just as the horrific events of the twentieth century caught up with the Enlightenment.


Other links that may be of interest:

Rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral Contradicts Everything Secular Europe Stands For: Rebel Priest

Vas deferens: Refuting 'bad design' arguments: Journal of Creation

War against boys: Book review and reflection

Hoff Sommers, C. (2000). The war against boys. NY: Simon & Shuster Paperbacks.

The war against boys
What ever happened to 'let boys be boys'? The following anecdote from Sommers book highlights the situation in schools today. "A sixth-grade boy, whose mother asks to be identified as Dan, squirms as his teacher tells his parents he's not trying hard enough in school. He looks away as the teacher directs his parents to a table of projects the class has done on Ancient Greek civilisation. Some projects are meticulous works of art, with edges burned to resemble old parchment. Dan's title page is plain and unillustrated, and he's left an 'e' out of 'Greek'. "You'll never get anywhere if you don't try," says Dan's father as they leave the classroom. "I don't understand," says Dan's mother, whose two older daughters got straight A's in school without her intervention."

The gender gap
It became apparent in the 1990's girls were falling behind in math and science and this revelation gave momentum to the movement to focus more on girls' education. This movement in education overlooked the obvious fact that boys, too, were failing in other areas such as reading, writing, and school engagement. The push in girls' education was so successful that they now outnumber boys entering higher education institutions. "Today women in the United States earn 57% of bachelor's degrees, 60 percent of master's degrees, and 52 percent of PhDs. One can only assume that the gender gap is real and it has a negative effect on boys' education and life opportunities." What alerted parents and others was the observation that girls were collecting the majority of honours and awards in high school.

Pay gap
There has been much said about the gender pay gap in the news media. Almost daily there are calls for equality in the work place. However, in most Western countries it is illegal for employers to pay women less than a man doing the same job. There has been a concerted effort in OECD countries to make sure that women have equal opportunity and equal pay. It is disingenuous and discriminatory in our modern society to have it any other way. If this was not so it would be the most logical thing for an employer to hire women rather than men because it would be cheaper and more efficient. However, there does not seem to be any evidence that this is happening. What is certain is that in Australia and in other western countries employers will face heavy fines if they do otherwise. What then is the problem with the so called gender wage gap?

Gap driven by choice, lifestyle, and hours worked
The gender pay disparity is driven more by choice of occupation and lifestyle, hours worked, and length of employment in the work force. Sommers suggests that female doctors are more likely to be paediatricians than higher paid cardiologists. In General, women dominate lower paid occupations such as child care, teaching, nursing and other jobs within the service industries. This is because women, on the whole make life style choices by electing professions that tend to be nurturing and caring roles. Many women, who choose to have a family, will prefer to stay at home longer to nurture their family. Jobs like teaching, for example, enable women to be more available outside of school time including school holidays. Furthermore, women tend to look for jobs that allow them to be more agreeable while men tend to be more competitive and seek more aggressive and competitive occupations. Some would posit that gender stereotyping actually coerces women into lower paid positions.

Countries like Sweden have for a long time implemented affirmative action policies whereby they use quotas to try and redress the imbalance in some occupations. However, Affirmative action in Sweden has been very disappointing. Despite the fact that the Nordic countries have taken the lead in gender equality the results indicate that there are more women in the work force but fewer Swedish women reach top executive positions than more conservative countries like the United States of America.

Merit or equity
There are problems for men entering the workforce as well. As already alluded to above there are more female college and university graduates available for employment. Some affirmative action policies will mean that women will be selected as more suitable because the employer may need to fulfil a certain equity quota. Logcally, one would expect that the most qualified applicant for the job should be selected, but this is often not the case. All people should have equal opportunity to pursue the career of their choice regardless of race, gender, or age. However, if applications for positions are judged according to equity of outcomes it creates an unfair advantage and leads to poorer quality applicants securing higher levels job. In contrast, contract selection according to merit is fair and will lead to better creativity and productivity.

Schools and boys
The worrying problem in schools is that male underachievement is feeding the growing college and university entrance gap. In the last twenty or so years there has been a concerted effort by teachers to lift the performance of girls but the same effort has not been applied to boys. There may be other reasons for this as well. In the past boys have tended to perform at each end of the achievement spectrum while girls were more likely to congregate in the centre. However, particularly in primary and preschool education there are few role models for boys as nearly all teachers in primary schools (elementary schools) tend to be female. Added to this is the fact that it is more common for boys to grow up without a father present at home, particularly in black American homes. Many other fathers are at home but are disengaged and do not provide what is needed. Boys are more likely to have a learning disability or ADHD. Boys all favour a different style of learning but since most teachers are women they will prefer a more feminine teaching style.

Staking the deck
What is more concerning is that it would seem that the deck is being stacked against giving boys 'a fair go' in education. Sommers asks the question, "What is the answer? More boy-friendly curricula? More male teachers? More single-sex classrooms? Special preschool classes to improve boys' social skills? Extra recess where boys are allowed to engage in their characteristic rough-and-tumble play? More engaging schools like Aviation High? ... these are all promising solutions-and all are strenuously opposed by the women's lobby." Furthermore, boys are generally noisy, rowdy, and hard to manage. They are often messy, disorganised, and will not sit still. Boys like action, risk, and competition. They also tend to do less well with group work and are not as good with language as girls. They tend to think that reading is a feminine activity. Since the 1970s there has been a decline in the amount of time given to recess and structured outdoor activities. It is unsurprising that obesity has become a problem for girls, but even more so for boys. Boys are give more suspensions for minor acts. What is more concerning is that there has been a deliberate push to make boys less masculine because male traits are seen as being less virtuous.

Second sex
Britain and Australia have raised concerns for the gender gap and a more equitable education of boys. For example, in 2002, the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Training published Boys: Getting It Right: Report n the Inquiry into the Education of Boys. The report called for a change away from just a focus solely on the needs of girls for gender equality and deterred calls for the transformation of boy's masculinity. There is much to be done in most Western countries otherwise boys will become the second sex. This is particularly concerning due to the likelihood that the economy will drift further toward a knowledge based society and will attract more women.

I would recommend this book as essential reading for those that are concerned with real equality of opportunity for all.

Other links of interest:

The war against boys: Prager U

Make men masculine again: Prager U

Tucker Carlson interview with Jordan Petersen: The lefts toxic masculinity label to blame for the crisis.

Why do girls outperform boys on reading tests throughout the world?: OUPblog

Asian American boys

Gender pay gap explained: Harvard

Gender pay gap: Guardian - 20-29 year old women earn more than men

Why Traditional Masculinity is Good for Academia: Areo

Masculinity and Poway Synagogue: Culture

Woman said man who stopped to help her when her car broke down assaulted her: Daily Wire