Who would have thought our society could have declined to the point where only a person’s feelings matter? Not only that, but the only “feelings” one ever hears about are “mad,” “sad” or “bad.” Recently, The Herald printed an article about algebra and how it made a student feel low, aka, “bad,” so the conclusion was to get rid of algebra because who needs it anyway?
Then, I read that students at University of Michigan are feeling “mad” because someone had the audacity to write in chalk on steps to the student union, “Trump 2016.” A student at Harvard had “bad” feelings when his roommate unpacked a United States flag to hang over his bed and demanded that it be removed. Students in a class at another university don’t want students with opposing opinions to sit in the classroom with them as it hurts their feelings. This has carried over to adults, I use the term loosely. A professor has been given an unpaid leave of absence because another professor is “offended” by his post on a Catholic university blog that students should have the right to discuss marriage, and she wants all discussion against same-sex marriage ended. (Remember this is a Catholic University.) Apparently, students today have a lot more time to “feel” than study.
How did we get here? Because most education today doesn’t focus on facts or truth, it focuses on a person’s feelings or opinion, so instead of being asked what a story is about or how the main character handles the conflict, or what is 100 minus 48, etc.; it asks students how the story or problem makes them feel? My response is “who cares?” “Feelings follow actions” (Zig Ziglar) and by themselves will get you nowhere; as Dale Carnegie wisely said, “Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have!”
Thomas Jefferson said, “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” Our society being taken over by “feelings” is not only less than honest, it is dangerous and soon we will be nothing but a country of fools.
Catherine Paxton
Arlington
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