Where did colleges go wrong?

So I dunno if you've read Daniel Gilbert's (only) book - but he does kinda say (to paraphrase) that people get tougher when you bang them around.

The only danger is that some people don't. My school got the reputation of the suicide school of the north east because the nature of the school was so darned tough. Couple that with the unbelievably dull and cold winters and you had a situation where they had to put up fences over the bridges (making it even more depressing). Even the weak anti-suicide program they had was laughable.

This sweeping 'coddling' that schools are doing for their students can be put down to a lazy libertarian psychology or looked at for what it really is: that schools would rather have 16,000 wimps than have the stain of a kid take his own life

Great article. I really appreciate how both authors point out that it's not just about college, it's about the pressure put (often via the justice system) on parents, it's about play areas where swings are banned, it's about debates disappearing from elementary school, it's about the frivolous law suits.