^{The Bottom Line} Universities Need to Stop Coddling Students with Canceled Classes

As just the latest example of elite universities coddling students, classes were canceled following the election result of Donald Trump’s victory, allowing students time and space to cope.

At Harvard University, some professors “canceled their Wednesday classes, made attendance optional, or extended assignment deadlines,” while others offered safe spaces for students. Multiple Princeton University professors canceled classes the day following the election, and one professor told students later that week they could “leave if they could not emotionally handle participating.” According to National Review, Princeton University Health Services provided “Post-Election Listening Circles” for students.

Georgetown University created a “Self-Care Suite” where students had the opportunity “to play with Legos, color with crayons, and eat milk and cookies” to deal with the stress of the Presidential election results. At the University of Pennsylvania, professors canceled classes and adjusted exams in light of Trump’s win.

All of these efforts were to help adult-age students cope with the national election results.

It’s no wonder many employers are devaluing college “educated” job candidates. A 2023 study found that 55% of companies surveyed eliminated a bachelor’s degree requirement for employment eligibility.

Yet, the irrational coddling starts long before students enter universities. Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Anxious Generation, addresses this epidemic. While coddling might seem kind, in the end, it can be cruel. Coddling conditions children to believe they should never encounter hardships or, when they do, that someone else should intervene on their behalf.

Haidt explains that the “gentle parenting style,” popular today, is employed to affirm children even when they may need strong correction.

Additionally, instead of letting kids roam and incrementally learn boundaries, independence, and responsibility, parents frequently deprive their children of the play and adventure they need to develop and thrive.

As a social psychologist who for the past few years has been closely studying trends in Gen Z (those born approximately between 1995 and 2012), Haidt often asks his audiences when they were allowed to play independently as children. Most of them fall between the five to eight age range. Yet, starting in the 1990s, out of fear of abduction, parents began delaying allowing their children to play outside independently until age 14 or 15.

However, while parents have intently focused on shielding their kids from the specter of physical danger, kids have gone virtually free range in the digital jungle. The dangers of the online world have gone almost totally disregarded over the past twelve years or so.

Haidt contends that “phone-based childhood” significantly affects children. He explains that the harmful impact typically differs dramatically for girls and boys due to the type of phone usage. In general, girls fall more prey to social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, while boys can become lost in pornography and video games.

The social comparison, unhealthy beauty standards, and social pressures of Instagram negatively impacted girls’ mental health, while boys could live virtually without the traditional demands of becoming real men. As a result of the phone-based childhood, young people prefer the “safe” but damaging realm of online life to the real world of relationships, responsibility, and growth.

Children today are often shielded from physical play and deeply damaged by screens that they grew up unable to manage adulthood’s inevitable challenges and demands.

Haidt wisely notes, “We have overprotected children in the real world and under-protected them in the virtual world.” Elite universities are embarrassingly exacerbating the issue by coddling adult students when their choice for President of the United States is not that of the majority of voters.

It’s past due time to exchange cellphones for Legos, coloring books, and outdoor playtime for children, and stop coddling college students with canceled classes.