U.S. colleges abandon real education for coloring books and 'safe spaces' to coddle young, ignorant minds

Saturday, October 08, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: College campuses, coloring books, safe spaces

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(NaturalNews) Left-wing extremist fanatics have long since taken over the nation's institutes of "higher" education and are using them not to advance learning but to impose a new social order and to churn out sheep who are incapable of critical thought.

That's the only way to explain the lunacy that keeps emanating from our nation's colleges and universities. Worse, these kids are next generation of voters and policymakers – never forget that.

The College Fix is reporting that essentially, the "progressive" social change artists running colleges and universities are creating mindless cowards who are incapable of dealing with anything controversial or confrontational.

"In the age of safe spaces and trigger warnings comes another new trend to the college repertoire: coloring books," the site notes, adding that this fall campuses around the country are offering them to students so they can "de-stress" (rather than teaching them ways to better handle and manage stress, which is simply a fact of life).

For instance, at American University, the school's counseling center made coloring sheets available in recognition of "Healthy Campus Week." The school noted on its Facebook page that coloring books for adults "can help with a number of emotional and mental health issues" (or cause them, perhaps?).

We're conditioning our young people to run away from stress rather than figure out ways to deal with it

Allegedly, such coloring materials can help relieve obsessive-compulsive behavior, over-eating, anxiety and depressive disorders, as well as substance abuse issues and anger management. The AU center claimed that the time and focus it takes for adults to color "helps the individual remove the focus from the negative issues and habits," allowing the person to "focus them in a safe and productive way."

Yes, this is real. And yes, there are people who believe this – far too many, in fact.

Meanwhile, at the University of Wyoming, there is an "Art-Well" program creators say aims to "color your stress away." The website notes further that students are provided coloring pages and colors. There are scheduled "Art-Well times" but for students who can't make those, they can come to the "Wellness Center Zen Den any time."

At the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth there is a program called "StressLess Days," which are held on Wednesdays. As in the previous cases, UMass Dartmouth provides coloring materials as well as "crafts and games" for poor, stressed-out students.

The University of Missouri has a similar program, which College Fix reporter Kayla Schierbecker tweet-described as the launch of the school's "adult daycare" program. As do several others, including Brown University and the University of California-San Diego, The College Fix reported.

Several other ways of handling stress besides resorting to a childhood activity

"Coloring is like meditation because it encourages engagement with the present moment. When we focus on the present moment, we do not worry about the future, ruminate about the past, or engage in negative self talk," says Northcentral University Prof. Mary Jill Blackwell.

Well, that may be true – but the same could be said about spending time studying to be a better student or reading assignments to learn more – both functions of higher education. Or, at least they used to be.

Then again, people need to learn how to handle stress, not run away from it. Being able to handle the inevitable stress in your life makes you a stronger person. But if a person has been sheltered from it most of their lives, when they are faced with a stressful situation they must deal with, they are unprepared to handle it because they've never done it. They don't know how. So the result can be disastrous – lashing out in anger, complete mental breakdown, turning to alcohol and/or drugs or even suicide.

There are several ways to handle stress other than turning to a childhood activity – do something physical (like sports or working out), sleep more, talk to a friend or find solutions to your problems on your own by writing them down.

Sources:

TheCollegeFix.com

UWYO.edu

UMASSD.edu