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at 8:24 AM, Super Dave ranted: | [rant back: ]

<rant id="supes" title="real world my @$$">


ah yes it's that time of the year again. Freshman piling in from across the country and globe, all trying to get to their dorms early on move-in day to get the prime unloading parking spots, wandering around in huge herds led by overly-bubbly, annoying RA's, and asking the stupidest questions ever. Can't you see how tolerant I am, too? :)


Anyway, my biggest beef with frosh orientation is that STUPID "Real World" bit. I honest-to-God hope Cheng doesn't actually consider it insightful because frankly, it's NOT. It's the most exaggerated hyperbole I've ever seen; you go see that bit, and you really do leave thinking EVERYONE on campus binge drinks, sleeps around, and samples illegal, mind-altering drugs. And in turn because a University presentation paints this picture of campus life, students are encouraged to adopt this view of reality and in turn make it a reality in their lives.


Yes, those of us well-adjusted and sensible students out there can sit through such a presentation and realize that it's just a bunch of Stanford hooligans reveling in their debauchery and that it in no way portrays reality in any meaningful way. But the truth is that most college freshman are neither well-adjusted nor sensible. In fact most are insecure, unsure of who they are and what they stand for, and willing to do just about anything to fit in and find acceptance. Therefore, instead of taking the opportunity to encourage these frosh to find healthy ways to explore their lives (don't rely on alcohol or drugs to facilitate socializing, don't relate to relate students through the exclusive use of sex, don't make their studies -- their FUTURES -- a distant priority, etc.), the University openly advocates risky, life-damaging behavior.


The truth of the matter is that no one is better off living a drinking lifestyle; people can be better off NOT drinking, on the other hand. Sure drinking in moderation may not harm anyone, but it doesn't make anyone's life better than if they were drinking cokes at parties. Same goes for sex; no one's life improves as a result of engaging in sexual behavior in college. Relationships -- ESPECIALLY between opposite genders -- are complicated enough without the expectations, pressures, and often-unforeseen-consequences of sex. Why doesn't the University save everyone some grief and tell us THAT.


Sure, not everyone's gonna listen; some people have to learn the hard way (which I believe is something akin to Darwinism, no?). But should the student body as a whole be denied such a liberating, pressure-relieving message just because the University thinks we are too stupid to heed it? For some students, the presentation of such material is all that would be necessary to take the edge off the pressure they feel and give them the confidence to stand up for themselves and say no -- and be a lot healthier and happier.


Anyway, that's why I hate orientation. It's one big joke to me because all it really does is DISorient students even more.


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at 1:02 AM, CWW ranted: | [rant back: ]

Whee! The comic has returned. Classes haven't started, the frosh are here though! And Mike and Dave are back on campus! Horray!
As about the orientation events... I am staffing in a dorm so the frosh ask me questions. I actually DID go to "Faces" my year but that was all of 2 years ago and I remember very little. The frosh this year liked it I heard and that's all that matters since they aren't going to form a mob and lynch me for making them go to it.


--C



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