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The use of “Trigger Warnings” at colleges has become a topic of national debate. It is debated on whether trigger warnings offer protections for victims of distress or spoil students with high sensitivity issues regarding life experiences. This paper seeks to discuss an argument on whether colleges should have places where some views cannot be aired, especially if they are deemed offensive or create disagreement.

Importance of Trigger Warnings

The faculty at college argues that trigger warnings are necessary because they offer protection to fragile students who are victims of trauma. They claim that trigger warnings help to alleviate psychological discomfort among vulnerable students. It helps students to prepare themselves for the lesson or choose to skip class or ask for a different assignment thus protects them from unnecessary triggers. Exposure of students with personal difficulties to controversial content could be distressing them and thus affect the emotionally as well as their education engagement. Therefore, it is important for professors to grant requests to students to be protected from particular discussion or readings that can result in emotional and psychological distress (Schmidt 2).

On the other hand, others argue that trigger warnings are not necessary because they spoil students who have become highly sensitive to life experiences. It is claimed that “The presumption that students need to be protected rather than challenged in a classroom is at once infantilizing and anti-intellectual” (Schmidt 6). It is argued that preventing students from exposure to the triggers affects their preparations to the life stresses that they may encounter later in life. Moreover, it is perceived as a threat to academic freedom whereby students and faculty members can speak freely. Therefore, they suggest that the requests for trigger warnings should be granted only for the purpose of providing an individual with space or time to process the material. Opting out as a way of preventing exposure to controversial instructional is not a solution. Rather, the solution is to provide support services to these students (Schmidt 3).

Others argue that trigger warnings can be used for medical reasons and not for the purpose of responding to the views of fragile students on issues affecting their lives. Students with the need for trigger warnings can be provided with therapy in forming accommodations. However, offering formal accommodations can present significant challenges such as students may not be comfortable to seek to medical accommodations, lack the recent documentation to prove that a person has a mental health condition or the complaints of sexual assault many falls on deaf ears (Schmidt 4).

Refutation

My personal stand on safe spaces and Trigger warnings is that I am in complete disagreement. The increasing uses of trigger warnings in colleges are presenting significant challenges to students and faculty members (Wilson para 5). Professors are struggling on how to continue presenting instructional content with sensitivity. “We can’t function if we have to warn everybody about every traumatic topic” (Schmidt 7). It poses difficulty to them on how to manage classroom discussions because they have to traverse through the discussion to avoid concepts that might be offensive. Some opt to remove the controversial topics altogether. Therefore, trigger warnings have caused students to miss out on important lessons that are crucial in preparing them for professional and real life experiences which in turn affect their ability to become informed and responsible citizens (Schmidt 7).

Summary

The increasing use of trigger warnings in campuses has raised a lot of debate. Some argue that it is necessary for protecting the victims of distress by providing them with accommodating spaces that help to alleviate their psychological distress. Others argue that it impacts negatively on the professors who have to struggle to manage sensitive topics in classroom and students who miss out on the opportunity for being informed and prepared for professional and real life experiences that are significant in helping them become responsible citizens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works cited

Schmidt, Peter. A Faculty Stand on Trigger Warnings Stir Fears Among Students, 2015. Retrieved on 6th April 2017 from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/.

Wilson, Robin. Students Request for Trigger Warnings Grow More Varied, 2015. Retrieved on 6th April 2017 from http://www.socjobrumors.com/topic/students-request-for-trigger-warnings-grow-more-varied-che

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