Safe spaces have been springing up all around colleges and universities lately. They are used as a place for people to go to when they want to be surrounded by others with the same opinions. This sounds like a great idea, but it is actually quite detrimental. Sometimes, life experiences can make us feel uncomfortable, but not all of us have a hideout for when these situations happen.
Safe spaces are designed to keep certain people out, and to limit the discussion in a way that is only one-sided. How does that help a person grow? If all that a person ever hears is one side of a story, then their mind is never stretched to new dimensions. If people gather in a place to keep certain people away, then how will they ever know how to associate and appreciate people who are different?
Our generation is going completely backwards. Instead of celebrating diversity and talking through difficult conversations, we are taught to ignore the people who embrace different ideals and act as though they do not or should not exist. Rather than loving one another for who we are, it is now acceptable to label Christians as bigots, Republicans as traditionalist, sexist, and racist, and even go as far to make one race an enemy for something that their ancestors did more than two hundred years ago. Safe spaces create institutionalized and accepted places for hateful conversations that are disguised as those that are progressive and intellectual.
By eliminating people from the conversation, it discourages them from reaching out and making connections. So why are the very people in these spaces who complain about how much it hurts to be discriminated against, turning around and projecting their feelings of discrimination onto other people? That does more harm than good, and makes people feel unwelcome; the exact opposite of what safe spaces are made out to be.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been berated in the so called "safe space" at my school just because I am a conservative. People have even gone so far as to tell me to revoke my application to work there because my ideas do not align with the ideas of that area, and to go back to my dorm room if I would like to be safe. As many times as I have spoken out against that treatment, I have only been shut down by both students and faculty members who work in that area, and told that the behavior is acceptable for reasons that cannot be justified. It really disappoints me to see a place that claims to embrace so much inclusion only support a small portion of the students that attend the university, and contradict itself with no repercussions.
Safe spaces are dangerous ideas. They do not help people conduct themselves in a professional manner, they only teach people to limit their minds and only accept information that they are comfortable with hearing. They also teach people that they can treat those with different mindsets in a way that is completely unacceptable, while demanding respect and acceptance in return. As young adults who are just a few years away from entering the work force where there are no spaces to hide, it is disheartening to see such immature behavior take place.
The world is not a safe space, nor will it provide them, and I wish that colleges and universities would stop trying to belittle its students by teaching them otherwise. My hope for this generation is that we can learn to accept our differences by talking through them, and by opening our doors and our hearts to all kinds of people. Our minds were made to be challenged, enriched, and expanded, and we as people were made to love, respect, and appreciate everyone. If more people challenged themselves to hold these difficult conversations and listen to understand, then there will be less of a need to create reasons to find an "escape" from the real world.
"The millennial generation needs a reality check in terms of how they won't always be liked and rewarded because life can be challenging, and sometimes we don't always get what we want."
