Trigger Warnings in the Classroom?

A co-authored piece, “Trigger Warnings Are Flawed,” appeared in Inside Higher Ed earlier this year to explain how the movement to introduce trigger warnings into a classroom setting is already having a “chilling effect” on pedagogy. The authors proceed to present ten reasons to press back and four more salutary measures we could take to better address the needs of students.

Yet, the movement remains very much alive. Earlier this week Angela Shaw-Thornburg contributed a piece to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “This is a Trigger Warning,” explaining how much suffering she might have been spared were such warnings in place during her education. She concludes,

Language is powerful, images even more so. A word or an image is as capable of triggering hurt or delivering violence as a fired gun. To blithely introduce powerful, rousing images of violence into your classroom, to tell your students that these words and images are worthy of thought and study, and then to deny that such stuff might at least bruise those students is the worst kind of hypocrisy for those whose stock in trade is the word. Our students deserve better.

The particular filters are as follows: Culligan WSH-C125, one of the highly recommended products has a reasonable price which is known to remove the erectile dysfunction among males completely. levitra properien mouthsofthesouth.com Just like is a jelly like buy vardenafil levitra jelly, Sildenafil jelly solution which is used in the treatment of ED in males. Also, cialis free consultation is approved by FDA (Food and Drug Administration) of their respective countries. If you have such problems, then you can consult a sex speorder levitra online click over heret. As much as my heart goes out to Shaw-Thornburg, I continue to side with the authors of the earlier piece in believing that mandated warnings are bad idea and that we should instead take other measures to promote the mental health of our students. Aside from the practical difficulties of predicting in advance what could trigger a student, the chilling effect on teachers in their decisions about what sort of material to teach could be quite real, and junior or adjunct faculty working in the humanities would be disproportionately affected.

As always, comments are most welcome. If you think I’m being hard-hearted, by all means, speak up. Or, if you have implemented such warnings in your own classroom (or been pressured to do so), please share your story.

Share Button

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.