The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

This book is well organized, beautifully written, fun, and easy to read. Almost every page is packed with insight from research and the authors' own experience. I urge everyone to read this book, especially anyone involved with education in any way. Having said that, chapter 11 about social justice is perplexing. Throughout the book, the authors discuss the role that students, parents, and school faculty and administration play in the theme of the book, coddling the minds of young people. This chapter hardly addresses the role of schools, particularly faculty and administration, in social justice on campuses. Specifically, I expected that it would cover the role of Critical Theories. It's not as if the authors are unaware, as they have a section earlier in the book named "Modern Marcuseanism" in which they briefly discuss Crenshaw and intersectionality, but they completely neglect all the other influential thinkers that followed in the Marcusean school, like Derrick Bell, Angela Davis, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paulo Freire, Richard Delgado, or even Ibram Kendi, all of which are highly relevant to the modern social justice movement. Indeed, in chapter 11 it's as if the authors are afraid to discuss relevant topics like DEI -- the chapter begins with five pages of discussion that is not on topic, before the authors seem to feel compelled to tell the readers that they are not Republicans, in a paragraph that, between the lines, reveals that they are well aware of the influence of illiberal beliefs in social justice. Although the chapter has some good discussion, the authors unfortunately deprived the readers of some relevant insights that they must have with respect to Critical Theories including its derivative movement, DEI, and its effect on social justice attitudes on campuses today. It is quite shocking and disappointing.

I do love this book’s apolitical approach to dissecting how the American political climate has become so tense and polarized. I would recommend this to everyone who is baffled by the current political climate and wants to learn how they can help.