<p>JHS…do you clean your own bathrooms?</p>
<p>I hire someone–and have done since I was 26. Does that make me less moral than those who clean their own rooms? That seems to be the implication. Contracting laundry and cleaning services has made me far MORE successful as an architect and a mother and a wife. I have had time to squander on myself, my husband and my children. </p>
<p>Staff cleaned the baths at my university. How well I remember “MAN on the floor!”</p>
<p>I haven’t cleaned my own house for more years than I can count. But when I was a college student and a young adult I did. While I understand busy adults and professionals hiring cleaners, I still feel it works to have students at least learn these skills and do it for themselves for a few years.<br>
As a much older adult I take pride in telling younger employees that I started out doing everything myself and eating a LOT of macaroni and cheese.</p>
<p>IMO there is a big difference between an adult who is paying his/her own way & hiring a cleaning lady so that she can spend more time w/family and parents paying someone to clean up after their kids frat party! Laundry and normal upkeep are one thing, but trashing the place and leaving it for someone else to clean are another.
What is the benefit in teaching a kid that someone else will always be around to clean up their messes?</p>
<p>When I was in college, there was staff to clean the communal baths, and bedsheets and towels were delivered clean every week.<br>
When I had my own apartment, I did everything myself. I learned to cook only after I got married (that was a long time ago, and I haven’t poisoned anyone in my family, nor has anyone starved). Now that I have the resources to have a regular cleaning lady, I have the time to read on CC how my children’s generation is sinking into moral turpitude because its members are expected to perform tasks which in my days, the college hired non-students to do!!
Spoiled? My 60s fellow students were the spoiled ones.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s not appropriate to trash a place. I’m actually surprised at the article. In 2003, Greg Halpern published Harvard works because we do; it should delight all the bien-pensants on CC.</p>
<p>Wow. Did you go to college in the states? We had staff to clean the communal bathrooms, but nobody did the bedsheets and towels for us!</p>
<p>^^Yes. The beds had to be made (and stripped), but we had a weekly delivery of clean bedsheets and towels.</p>
<p>sarahsmom, there are hundreds of colleges where there is paid staff to clean bathrooms, vacuum students’ rooms, clean common areas. Does your D clean the bathrooms she uses at her school? Are the students who have these services provided for them any different than those which pay an outside company to do it? As I said, I doubt that the majority of business that these companies get is for frat parties who have ‘trashed the place’.</p>
<p>alwaysamom,
The outrage here was not about staff cleaning the dorm/communal bathrooms. My D does her own laundry and cleans her own room. If she wants to shell out her hard earned money to have it done, that’s her choice. She’d never ASK me to pay for it, she knows what I’d say.
Where are these “hundreds of colleges” that have hired staff to vacuum/clean student dorm rooms? List five? How about one?
No one expects the kids to vacuum the common room on their dorm floor, but if you leave your dirty dishes there, you can expect to find them in the trash upon your return and your fellow dorm mates will most likely find you annoying.
We sent our kids to school to learn about life and life includes cleaning up your own messes as far as I’m concerned. My kids will not be graduating to a trust fund and a cleaning lady. Oh well.</p>
<p>sarahsmom, you have missed the point I was trying to make, and you still didn’t answer my question as to what the difference is between kids paying to have their bathrooms cleaned and paid college staff cleaning bathrooms. Does your D clean her bathroom at Drake? I doubt it. That was my point. One which has staff to vacuum dorm rooms (or at least they did when my oldest was there, and by the way, you’ll note that I did not say “clean dorm rooms”) - Princeton. I’ve lived around, taught at, and worked at several colleges for most of my adult life, in addition to having three of my four Ds at various schools, and have never seen nor heard of anyone throwing dirty dishes into the trash in a common room, unless they’d been left there for several weeks, which really isn’t on topic to this discussion. Most people who have a cleaning lady do not have a trust fund.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’re right, alwaysamom. I often miss your points.</p>
<p>Can we get back to the ARTICLE that we are talking about? This thread did not start out a conversation about whether hard working doctors should hire a housekeeper!</p>
<p>This is not just routine maintenance:</p>
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</p>
<p>This is a house of “kids” too busy partying and wasting time and money to bother cleaning up after themselves!</p>
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<p>GASP! No. Much better that the little darlings have plenty of time to party instead of doing menial tasks that are clearly below them.</p>
<p>Sheesh. I must live on a different planet.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that people think that frat boys act like frat boys and throw parties.</p>
<p>Weenie, the article says this:</p>
<p>“They’re hardworking students who have a job at night and are studying all day and don’t have time to do laundry.” </p>
<p>That is a bit of a stretch, IMO. I guess throwing laundry into a machine, and folding is tough to do. It leaves too little leisure time.</p>
<p>I guess ironing a wrinkle out of a pair of pants would be out of the question! </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t care what rich kids do, but if they are so wealthy why are they working? I just find it funny.</p>
<p>What do you think? I’m guessing these kids are real team players when they get out into the work force. What? Debug code? That’s what those State U boys are for. We can’t be BOTHERED with such lowly jobs.</p>
<p>Do we know if there are laundry facilities in the frat house? If not, students who have money from working might find it easier to have laundry service. Don’t we adults make similar trade-offs? And if their parents are willing to pay for the services, why not? Shouldn’t it between the students, their wallets and their parents?</p>
<p>Is this going to turn into another thread on the virtue of poverty and the sins of the rich?</p>
<p>Four hours a week doing laundry? Even if you need to a do a load per week, does it really take four hours? I mean our machine takes a half hour to wash and an hour to dry if you let it go for the max, but it’s not like you sit there and just watch it either. I fold most of my clothes, but I could hang them. Even I iron, that part doesn’t take more than hour for a load. This article either exaggerated or someone has extremely inefficient laundry habits. </p>
<p>I don’t really think it matters, although unless their parents are willing to continue paying for cleaning services for them until they make enough, it’s only going to get harder. This is not really a difficult housekeeping environment. No small children (or any dependent children), ready made meals for many on a meal plan, small space to clean, etc. So if they are ever going to transition, it makes sense to do it now. If they don’t ever plan to, then I guess that’s cool too. Doesn’t seem worth it to me, but as long as they pay people they employ fair wages and treat them respectfully, then it’s not really my problem. </p>
<p>Actually if people leave trash or stuff in common areas for more than a day then our hall or building gets fined (money comes out of the dues fund that’s for events). If they can trace it back to one person, then that person would be fined, but they usually can’t. This does not happen very often. I don’t see any reason for anyone to leave their dirty dishes out. It simply hasn’t happened. We probably wouldn’t throw them away if we did, but it wouldn’t go unnoticed and would probably annoy people. Things like that are how people have no friends. Unfortunately it’s usually a general attitude rather than isolated incidents, to be honest.</p>
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</p>
<p>Bill Gates?
George HW Bush?
Hillary Clinton?
Madonna?
The Pope?
Christine Gregoire?</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think hiring a cleaning service shows a lack of moral fiber. I don’t provide my college student any pocket money. If he wants to earn enough to hire a maid service, good for him. (He’s the cheapest person in the world, practically, as it turns out. I’m on his bank account. We dropped him off for college on August 22 and since then he’s drawn $60 from his bank account. He’s already told me that one of his three suite-mates has drawn up a bathroom cleaning schedule and rigorously enforces it.)</p>
<p>I always figured colleges hire cleaning staff to vacuum kids’ rooms for two reasons:</p>
<p>1) to actually clean/sweep rooms (some kids would go an entire semester w/o touching a vacuum</p>
<p>2) to keep unofficial tabs on the kids and their contraband. </p>
<p>My kids all know how to do laundry (I quit doing theirs when they turn 16), clean the bathroom, walk the dog, do the dishes, etc. And, my boys, after age 12, do all their own sewing and clothing repairs. </p>
<p>I seriously doubt they would consider paying anyone to do any of these tasks for them.</p>
<p>I really must be horribly old fashioned.</p>
<p>But anyway, thanks for giving me a peek of how the top 1%'s kids live.</p>
<p>I don’t have a cleaning person, it’s not in the budget, but you can bet if I could afford it, I’d have one in tomorrow! S is VERY untidy and dissorganized, but in his defense he is very busy, school, rehearsals and two jobs. His school does have room inspections and they are fined if it does not pass, I don’t know what that cost him last year, I don’t want to know. When we picked him up last spring it took us all day to clean his room (we did it to avoid additional cost). When I looked into his closet there were exactly 3 items hanging up, everything else was on the floor, including his tux! He had a very unpleasant ride home! I did look into the laundry service for this year, but it was way too expensive, hopefully he’ll get tired of living in a mess. He’s in a new dorm that allows you to program the washers and dryers to call your cell or send you and email when your load is done, now if he can’t manage with that kind of luxury, well… nuf said.</p>