The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failureby Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
Pages: 352
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This book discusses the way the current teens and college-age students are being raised and taught. A lot of groups including schools don't allow competition, saying that just participating should be enough. But without friendly competition in schools how do kids learn to compete in life as adults. And perhaps just as important how do they learn to compete in a mature manner. These authors look at social trends that started in the 1980s (when I was a kid) and have progressed to today.
I wanted to read this book after learning about "helicopter" parents. So, are just over-protective while others are over-protective to the extreme and their kids don't know how to do anything for themselves. I was shocked to learn of parents going on job interviews for their kid. So, I wanted to see what others would say about the trends I was seeing around me.
The authors discuss how American society has gotten to this point and make some suggestions for ways to change this trend in the future. The authors are concerned about the stability of the country both economically and politically. We already have some people in power who do not know how to act like adults in public, so no wonder that kids accept this as normal. We all have to learn to compromise, to get along, to agree to disagree and still stay friends, with at least some people. But that is not what is being taught in some schools, some homes or other youth organisations.
Lots of provocative and discussion worthy topics here.
