Demanding trigger warnings? Canceling speakers? Shutting down comedians? College students today make the political correctness of the past seem tame. Today we’re asking: is oversensitivity ruining education? We’ll also look at the roots of extreme protectiveness in a nation where police officers are stationed at more and more high schools with a story about what happens when school discipline meets law enforcement. And, a job you may have thought was already obsolete – we’ll learn why the humble stenographer may be one of the most essential – and under-appreciated people in the courtroom.
Listen to the full show.
Trigger Warnings
In a cover story for the Atlantic magazine called “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt propose that it is not only is over-sensitivity – often in the form of trigger warnings - disastrous for education, but for mental health as well. Greg Lukianoff spoke with us to explain further.
Life of the Law: School Discipline
About one-third of us schools have a regular police presence on campus; some districts employ their own police forces. As the number of law enforcement officers on campuses has gone up, so too have the number of arrests – and navigating the line between discipline and law enforcement, is anything but simple. Life of the Law’s Alisa Roth brought us the story.
You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.
School Choice on Steroids
Rachel Monahan wrote “School Choice on Steroids” for the Atlantic and she joined us with more on the dispute over online courses.
America's Court Reporters
Gavin Jenkins is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. We read his article “Hanging Out With America’s Elite, Underappreciated Court Reporters” at Vice.com.
Clela Rorex, County Clerk
In 1975, a full forty years before the supreme court of the United States ruled on same-sex marriage, Clela Rorex was a newly elected county clerk in Boulder, Colorado. One day, two men came to her door and asked for a marriage license – which she granted. She told her story to her friend Sue Larson for Storycorps.
You can listen to this story again at Storycorps.org.
