A Plea To My Generation

With all the major events that happened in the last 12 months, there has been one I haven’t been able to get out of my head. Last October, there was a rise in protest at Yale, which ended up exploding into a national debate on “Safe Spaces.”

Maybe it’s because I live near the Yale campus, or maybe because I’m someone who likes to voice my opinion, I just can’t stand safe spaces. This is the video where a Yale student screams at a master of a college:

I’m not going to even go into the lack of respect that the student shows towards the professor, but it’s more about what she was saying. “It is not about creating an intellectual space…. it’s about creating a home.” This is the quote that has me worried about how my generation acts.

The very notion that Yale is more about making kids comfortable than exposing them to intellectually stimulating material and conversations defies the purpose of a university in the first place. Rather than working hard, gaining perspective, and maturing the mind, this student would rather stay trapped in a box. I’m not going to many students at Yale do this, in fact, the vast majority doesn’t, but fact that this anti-university ideology has reached the doors of a top tier school like Yale is disappointing.

This is what got me interested in the whole ‘safe space’ trend that has been spreading across american universities like a wildfire. Not only do students need to create specific areas where they can avoid being ‘triggered’, but they also get to use coloring books and blow bubbles too. It sounds like a preschool rather than a university. They protest guest speakers, and can even cancel an event.

What purpose does it serve to only listen to opinions that run parallel to yours? A lot of people would say these instances are all far left liberals, but saying that does exactly the same thing that the students are doing; by blaming one side, you’re only letting halfof an audience listen. This is not a problem with one gender, one political party, or one race. This is a societal problem.

I ask members of my generation to seek out opposing beliefs, engage with people who have them. Don’t be dismissive of what you don’t agree with, give them a chance to be heard. This is the only way we can move forward within society, and it’s the best chance we’ve got towards actually changing something.