The Coddling of the American Mind

I am currently reading a book entitled, The Coddling of the American Mind, written by First Amendment expert, Greg Lukianoff, and Social Psychologist, Jonathan Haidt. The sub-title of the book is How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure. It’s a fascinating and disturbing exposé of the predominant culture on many college and university campuses where political correctness, trigger warnings, and the cancel culture have taken root and are stifling free speech and civil discourse, as well as contributing to the fragility of its students. The authors assert that this societal trend is the consequence of three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings, and life is a battle between good people and bad people. Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter:

Children, like many other complex adaptive systems, are antifragile. Their brains require a wide range of inputs from their environments in order to configure themselves for those environments. Like the immune system, children must be exposed to challenges and stressors (within limits, and in age-appropriate ways), or they will fail to mature into strong and capable adults, able to engage productively with people and ideas that challenge their beliefs and moral convictions.

I am about halfway through the book and have found that its themes ring true in Pre-K-12 schools as well. These themes are consistent with my personal philosophy of parenting summarized by a contemporary proverb that has become the footer of my emails, Prepare the Child for the Path, not the Path for the Child. I’ll be sharing more from this book in future blogs.

John Stonestreet is Coming to Legacy

The featured speaker at this year’s Legacy Night gala (October 23 at the Frisco Omni Hotel) is John Stonestreet, the President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, who succeeded the legendary Chuck Colson upon his death almost ten years ago. I have been reading John’s Breakpoint commentaries for years and have often forwarded these commentaries to LCA’s faculty and staff as they are rich in applying a biblical worldview to contemporary issues. I am also a Colson Fellow (Class of 2020) having completed a rigorous discipleship program that required hundreds of hours of reading, study, webinars, and in-person lectures and discussions over a ten-month period. I can attest that John Stonestreet is one of today’s leading apologists and someone you will want to hear speak. Click here to read one of his recent commentaries:

I hope to see you at Legacy Night on October 23rd as we celebrate this incredible community we call Legacy Christian Academy.

Legacy Christian Academy is Frisco's preeminent Pre-K through 12 Christian school committed to educating students in a college preparatory environment balanced in academics, athletics, and fine arts–all within the context of a biblical worldview. For more information on Legacy, visit our admissions page.