Thanks, Michael. This 49-year-old – may a deity strike me dead if I refer to myself as a GenX’r – agrees, broadly, with your sentiments.

There is an affliction some acquire a few years out of university and into a professional career, that causes them to to reflect upon those just a few years younger with jaded, cynical eyes, and cast generalized judgements upon them. Usually it involves fresh colloquialisms, a newly evolved fashion sense, or a perceived crumbling of morality. Now, it seems, the kids are just too damned polite.

As I read the screed against political correctness above, I couldn’t help but wonder why the author feels there in some intrinsic value in tolerating racist, sexist, bigoted, and bullying speech on campus. Is there not enough of that nonsense in the world? Is it wrong that an institution of higher learning insist students and faculty attempt to rise above that crap?

For far too long we, as a society, have tolerated the denigration of racial and gender groups. Campus is one place where that should be explicitly discouraged. Some may stuff such codification in the pinata of “political correctness” to justify an ill-considered attack , but I’m pretty sure there’s nothing wrong with asking people to show respect for differing traits of their fellow humans.