Over the summer, online academic communities were engaged in a heated debate about trigger warnings. For the uninitiated, trigger warnings in classroom settings are verbal or written announcements provided to the class that certain assigned readings, films, or discussions contain difficult material. As an editorial in the Oberlin newspaper stated,
Trigger warnings exist in order to warn readers about sensitive subjects, like sexual violence or war, that could be traumatic to individuals who have had past experiences related to such topics, not to remove these subjects from academic discussion. They . . . validate the life experiences of certain members of our community and allow individuals to make informed decisions.
Of course, it’s not my intention to traumatize anyone. That said, students come to my classes carrying a wide range of life experiences with them, and since one of the core tasks of sociology is to analyze both the positive and negative aspects of human behavior, it is entirely possible that a student will encounter material in one of my classes that disturbs her or him. For example, as we discuss economic differences, race, sexual harassment, or housing instability, some of the material could evoke past experiences for certain students and make those sections of the class especially difficult. On the other hand, students with relevant experiences could also find it informative, helpful, and healing to become better informed about the social dynamics related to these issues.
I include the warnings on the first pages of my syllabi to give students a ‘heads up’ that they might encounter difficult material in the class, but it is up to individual students to decide if taking this class, this semester, is the right choice for them.
Why include controversial/difficult material in my classes at all? As I mentioned earlier, analyzing (at times controversial) social dynamics is a fundamental part of sociology. In addition, as Professor Brittney Cooper writes,
I care … about educating students who can entertain a range of competing views, wade through those beliefs, and come out on the other side with clarity and the capacity to articulate their position…. Encountering material that you have never encountered before, being challenged and learning strategies for both understanding and engaging the material is what it means to get an education.