The Current College Generation

“We are a bunch of pussies,” replied Justin Singh-Courtney, a freshman at University California, Davis, to a very simple question: Is our (current college students) generation more sensitive than our parents’ generation? As high schools and college have begun incorporating more trigger warnings, diversity trainings, and awareness days it has become a pressing issue as to the line where sensitivity ends and coddling begins.
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt wrote a piece for The Atlantic claiming, “A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.” They argue the point of college is to expand the mind and test conventional ways
Emilia Sloane and Juliana Zatz-Watkins, freshmen at St. Olaf College and University of California Santa Cruz highlighted the shift of stigma surrounding mental health. Zatz-Watkins argues, “people seem to be more aware of other people’s feelings… But people are much more aware of mental health issues which allows people to express their insecurities more now. In the past people had to deal with issues by themselves because it was taboo to speak about them… It’s more acceptable to express your sensitivities than it was in the past.” Sloane also believes that our increasing awareness of mental health issues has made a difference, especially considering mental health was often not acknowledged or discussed when our parents grew up. Two of the main reasons mental health has become more acceptable to talk about would be a greater number of people are from it as well as a growing knowledge via the internet. The internet allows barriers or unknowns to be broken down and understood, including mental health. A person who has never experienced depression and does not know anyone afflicted by it can still learn everything about the disease through Twitter, The New York Times, or