Critical Thinking And College Safe Spaces

College shouldn't be the beginning of your gradual acclimation to your future alone in the outside world. That should have started in high school.

Based on the minimum working age in the U.S., the minimum age you can start driving a car, the minimum age you can join the military, the minimum age you can start smoking, your introduction to self-sufficiency begins long before you graduate from high school.

But, there seems to be a trend among college students to limit their exposure to the harsh realities of the real world, the same luxuries they had under the blanket of protection provided by their parents. They probably still have parental control search engine filters activated on their college laptops.

With the possible exception of students on a debate team, the vast majority of high school students are taught rudimentary functional work skills. Is this correct? Take a quick two question survey:



Here are some recent articles about College Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings:

• Mitch Albom: Is 'safe space' concept being abused on campus?
• Safe spaces on campus? How about just growing up
• You won't find safe spaces here, UC dean tells freshmen
• When Did 'Safe Spaces' Become a Thing?
• Millennials even want safe spaces from sex, study finds

Most unsettling about the real world is being unprepared for messages that are false or dangerously misleading. Living at home and going to school in a carefully supervised environment leaves you without a healthy sense of skepticism. The most important lesson is that you must be skeptical of every piece of information placed in your hands, even if it's from someone you trust, because they may not know better themselves.

Critical Thinking Skills are essential for finding the truth and learning who can be trusted.

Pornography Defined

I recently commented on a news report posted by Newsy about a predator who used pornography as a manual for torturing his victim. I got several responses by people who couldn't distinguish the difference between pornography and normal sexual activity. I found this very disturbing so I must elaborate on what I understand are the boundaries of morality in this matter.

First remember that you can do what ever you want as long as your decisions are informed and consensual.

Consent is more complicated than you think. It doesn't only extend to just one other individual, but a multitude of individuals in the future who may be affected by your decision, such as future sexual partners of your immediate sexual partner, and overall health care expenses accrued by local medical facilities, and the health insurance industry as a whole which may affect your taxes.

Morality is founded on empathy and fairness. If you can see from the perspective of other people and imagine with some accuracy how your decisions will affect them, congratulations, your are not a Sociopath.

If on the other hand you post pics of your ex-girlfriend on 4chan, you can be considered a Sociopath.

If you coerce people into sexually explicit performances or activity by exploiting their economic fragility or by seizing and withholding their personal property such as a passport or other valuables, you may be considered a human trafficker under international law.

The term "pornography" should be applied to any media that depicts person or persons who did not consent to participation in a controversial activity.

The term "art" should be applied to any media depicting persons in any activity with full consent by all parties involved to the activity and its publication.

So therein lies the difference between art and pornography.