1. In order to from the most productive approach to learning in higher education begins through developing growth mindsets in students. If these students are taught to develop a growth mindset since kindergarten, and up until higher education than the chances that they’ve developed a growth mindset will be higher. Having a growth mindset could possibly help stop this sensitive thinking. The thinking seen in college today is completely opposed to ideas or words that are deemed offensive or hurtful. Sheltering students from certain realities is foolish, and will not help the problem. Colleges should be promoting growth mindsets and stop feeding into the safe space culture that is growing. Students should be confronted with and have to engage with ideas out of their comfort zone in order to grow. If colleges continue to shield students then they will have no opportunity to grow. This lack of growth is a fixed mindset. It means having the unwillingness to push yourself when faced with a challenge.

3. Developing the most productive students that are prepared to succeed outside of higher education depends on their mindset and the school itself. In “The Coddling of the American Mind”, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathon Haidt explain that many students today on college campuses are being protected from words and ideas that might be viewed as offensive or cause discomfort. They suggest that the unwillingness from students to think outside their comfort zones may be detrimental to their future success in life. The universities themselves are policing students speech very closely, and making people nervous to express ideas in case they are deemed as offensive. The authors claim that this affects students because it “prepares them poorly for professional life, which often demands intellectual engagement with people and ideas one might find uncongenial or wrong.” Creating a culture where speech must be monitored and topics must be banned is only going to hurt students when they eventually leave college. A possible solution to this problem could be an idea presented by Carol Dweck in her speech, “The Power of Believing that you can Improve”. Dweck explains that students who are successful and resilient have what she calls a growth mindset.Having a growth mindset is about overcoming obstacles, and not quitting. People with a growth mindset when encountering a problem “engage deeply. They process the error. They learn from it and they correct it.” Universities should try to foster communities that promote having a growth mindset by teaching students how to deal with hearing something offensive, and learning that the world is full of many offenses. This kind of mindset would better prepare them for professional life outside of college.

4. Roth writes about creating campuses where students feel “safe enough” to be able to express their ideas and opinions “without the threat of harassment or intimidation.” He claims colleges should be promoting “intellectual diversity in a context in which people can feel safe enough to challenge each other.” Places where students don’t feel like they can safely express their ideas can not grow. Psychologist Carol Dweck has seen the negative impacts on students who aren’t given scholastic environments where they can thrive. “In our country, there are groups of students who chronically underperform, for example, children in inner cities, or children on Native American reservations. And they’ve done so poorly for so long that many people think it’s inevitable.” The problem is these students aren’t being given environments where they feel “safe enough” to try harder in school or think they can do well. Dweck found that the problem was how they were being taught, and promoting growth thinking and telling the kids it was possible to improve was helpful. ” In one year, a kindergarten class in Harlem, New York scored in the 95th percentile on the national achievement test. Many of those kids could not hold a pencil when they arrived at school.“ Both Roth and Dweck believe that the school should be responsible for providing a place that fosters intellectual growth.