Critical Thinking: Are Some Universities Making People Mentally And Emotionally Weak?

If someone stays up to date with the news, they may have heard about the kinds of things that have been taking place at universities around the world. One could read news papers, watch TV, and use social media to stay up to date with what goes on at these institutions.

A Closer Look

For one thing, one may have heard about how students are now being given ‘safe spaces’, with this being a way to protect them from ‘offensive’ words or ‘hate speech’, for instance. Additionally, they may have read about certain speakers who have been banned from speaking there.

Also, perhaps one has heard about the instance where a student completely lost all self-control because she was wasn’t protected from Halloween costumes. While something like this can sound a bit extreme, it is far from the exception.

The Purpose

Hearing about these kinds of things can make one wonder what the purpose of a university is, as it can seem as though some of these institutions serve a different purpose. Regardless of what someone studies there, it could be said that they should be open to being challenged, be curious, and want to learn about different things.

Ultimately, this is not somewhere where someone should be if they don’t want to have their views and beliefs challenged. If they only want to spend time with people who agree with them, they shouldn’t have gone there in the first place.

A Big Difference

It is then going to be vital for one to be able to handle different views and opinions, without feeling as though their life is under threat. This will allow them to question the validity of their own beliefs and to find to out why another person would believe what they believe.

Yet, even though they will be challenging the other person’s views, they can still treat them with respect. Each person will be challenging what the other believes, as opposed to trying to end their life.

Impersonal

There can be times when this will be challenging, and it can even feel threatening, but one can focus on the fact that they are more than what they believe. What is going on it their mind will change over time; this is just part of life.

The challenge is when one ends up getting too attached to what they believe, and finds it hard to let go and to embrace another way of seeing something. When this happens, their minds need to be right can be more important than anything else.

The Only Thing That Matters

So, unless one is able to step back and to observe their minds need to be right, they are going to be nothing more than a slave. One is then not using their mind, their mind is using them.

Now, if one is at university and they are completely attached to what their mind believes, they are going to stop themselves from being able to truly embrace this experience. They will have gone in with a closed mind and they will leave with a closed mind.

A Waste of Time

A few years of their life will end up being wasted, and they might even be in a lot of debt afterwards. One will have been given a great opportunity to expand their mind and to grow, but they won’t have taken it with both hands.

And if someone like this sees themselves as oppressed and not as ‘privileged’ as others, they are not going to realise how ‘privileged’ they are to be able to go to university. In addition to the negative effect this will have on their own life, they can make it a lot harder for the people who do want to learn.

The Cause

However, while it would be easy to focus on how certain students behave; this is only going to be part of the problem. What needs to be looked into is why these universities put up with this kind of behaviour.

But, if students are seen as ‘consumers’ as Joanna Williams has pointed out, there is going to be no reason for them challenge students in any way. The priority for the people who run these institutions will be to do whatever they can to please the people who are paying them money.

A Different Purpose

Thus, instead of providing somewhere where people will be able to grow and develop, they will be providing a completely different environment; an environment that is more like a day care centre than a place of learning. Making students feel comfortable is going to be the priority, meaning that anything that might challenge them will be off limits.

One way of looking at this would be to say that a university like this is more feminine than masculine. The masculine energy is made up of many traits, and the need to challenge ideas and others is one of them; whereas a big part of the feminine energy is about affirmation, and this is a very different approach.

A Deeper Look

It would be easy to focus purely on what that certain universities are doing, but this wouldn’t take into account why someone would be in a position where they desperately need to be affirmed and are unable to handle anything that challenges them. Physically, someone like this can look like an adult, but emotionally, they can feel like a needy child.

Maybe, someone like this didn’t receive the kind of care that they needed during the beginning of their life, with this being the reason why they expect a university to give them special treatment. The special treatment that they needed as a child wouldn’t have been provided.

Unmet Childhood Needs

There would have been the needs that were not met during this time in their life and they probably would have experienced trauma in the process. This would have stopped them from being able to develop the ability to regulate their own emotions.

The trauma within them can be triggered whenever they hear something that they don’t agree with, thereby causing them to feel as though their life is under threat. Their need to control and silence others is then a way for them to try to stop themselves from being overwhelmed by their own emotions.
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Conclusion

One way to find out what someone’s early years were like is to pay attention to how they behave as an adult. There is a lot more to it than this and this time in someone’s life can be irrelevant, but it is a starting point.

If someone finds it hard to experience self-control, and they want to settle themselves down, they might need to reach out for external support. This can be provided by a therapist or a healer.