By: Mary Mims on May 18, 2019
“I can’t talk to him about not doing his work”, my co-worker complained; “I already had a suicide”, she explained. As we proceeded to talk about strategies of how to tell this underperforming employee he was not doing his job my friend told me this employee started to cry when she spoke of his performance.…
By: Kyle Chalko on May 18, 2019
Hear me out. I am after all, here to be heard. I’m not here to walk into an intellectual safe place, and that has been the arrogance of higher education to think that was their purpose. I’m here to have connection… not to feel threatened. I simply want a safe space to be able to…
By: Rhonda Davis on May 18, 2019
“I need to know the University understands how this makes me feel. I am offended.” This is a common statement I hear from students when they counter decisions made by university staff and faculty. As members of Gen Z continue their way through the college experience, those of us tasked with the holistic development of…
By: Karen Rouggly on May 17, 2019
Last week, my office mobilized and launched 20 of 28 teams serving this summer around the world. One team was missing a member. She decided about 7 days prior to her trip departure that she no longer “felt called” to go. While the student leaders had been having conversations with the team member about her…
By: Greg on May 17, 2019
Having students come and spend weeks overseas gives our team an opportunity to shape those that desire to be used by God. Over the last eight or nine years we have seen a shift in the students that have come. When we began we had a list of rules and communication policies for the purpose…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on May 17, 2019
Human history seems to reveal a constant motion, a swinging pendulum regarding many subjects. There is a propensity when people are concerned about something to move the opposite direction to correct it. Unfortunately, we often move too far the other way and end up with a similar problem on the opposite side. This metaphor…
By: Trisha Welstad on May 17, 2019
This week I am preaching on loving the Lord with all of our mind. Our church is in the middle of a series on living out Jesus’ command to love God with our whole self. Beginning with Romans 12:2 which says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of…
By: Shawn Hart on May 17, 2019
If you want to make a point right off the bat, title your book, “The Coddling of the American Mind.” In fact, it is this message that is the main principle that my entire dissertation is being based up; is it possible that even the church as a whole has become so consumed with reaching…
By: Digby Wilkinson on May 16, 2019
The Coddling of the American Mind.[1] A coddle is an Irish dish comprising layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and bacon rashers with sliced potatoes and onions. I initially wondered if the book title was subtle reference to the American mind being somewhat overloaded with fatty deposits with a slightly sour edge. But apparently the…
By: Harry Edwards on May 16, 2019
Ever since I started the discipline of reading the weekly required text for the doctoral program I’m (and my cohort) in, I’ve made it a point to recommend some of the titles to my pastors. I feel comfortable doing that because my local church leaders know what my ministry passions are. It’s also my way…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on May 16, 2019
The book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure, was very interesting and rather entertaining and concerning all at the same time. The authors wrote the book out of concern for our youth and to dispel the…
By: Jason Turbeville on May 16, 2019
I want to start this with a simple question, raise your hand if in the past 5 years, you have seen some ugly trend and not blamed the group known as millennials. My guess is most of us have done this with some sort of eye roll and derisive statement. In their book The Coddling of…
By: Sean Dean on May 16, 2019
Following the rules is my thing. I am apparently custom built to be a rule follower. I cannot grasp the fullness of the saying, “rules are made to be broken.” I certainly understand what is being said, but I just cannot grasp why anyone would believe such a thing. Along with this comes the distaste…
By: Jenn Burnett on May 16, 2019
Much of what I learned about grit and resilience was learned on the rugby pitch in University. Three key deceptions are proposed by Lukianoff and Haidt as weakening the next generation in their book Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation For Failure: “The Untruth of…
By: Andrea Lathrop on May 16, 2019
I was relieved to see The Coddling of the American Mind on our reading list. The first I had heard of this book was last Christmas when my brother-in-law showed it to me. He said it was a book about the “ethic of safety”. I knew immediately this book would be helpful to me. We…
By: Jean Ollis on May 16, 2019
i·ro·ny1 /ˈīrənē/ A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. I’ve spent several days working on my end of year self-evaluation at the university – it’s a painfully long reflective narrative on every component of my job (this year my narrative…
By: Mario Hood on May 16, 2019
This week’s reading, The Coddling of The American Mind, written by Haidt (social psychologist and professor in New York University’s Stern School of Business plus Board Chair of the Heterodox Academy) and Lukianoff (president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) deals with the well-being of the “iGen” generation. The book deals…
By: Colleen Batchelder on May 16, 2019
The beginning introduction enraptures readers on a fictitious narrative that weaves in and out of the relativistic, nationalistic, and idealistic nature of the foundation of one’s American culture. Greg Lukianoff, attorney and author[1] and Dr. Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business[2] challenge their readers to understand that the very…
By: Dave Watermulder on May 16, 2019
I have a bad habit. I am one of those people who share news stories and articles that often have an underlying message attached. For example, I sent my brother-in-law an article from the Mayo Clinic entitled, “Walking: Trim Your Waistline, Improve Your Health”.[1] I have sent my wife numerous articles with encouraging lines like…
By: Mark Petersen on May 16, 2019
In The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt advance an argument against three commonly held assumptions that guide Western cultural discourse today. These are: (1) we are fragile and in need of protection; (2) our feelings must always guide our actions; and (3) we must confront and oppose the enemy without.…
