Looking ahead - LACs vs. small universities

blossom
Thu, 08 May 2008 16:21:45 +0000

Sorry Newmassdad, you didn’t get a rise out of me, and I’m not the least PC in any way shape or form.

I think culture is important. A secular Jew shouldn’t attend Yeshiva University unless he or she is prepared for a lot of heavy duty discomfort or indoctrination. Ditto for a religious muslim at Oral Roberts; I wouldn’t encourage a transgendered kid to attend BYU. But I hardly think a tag of “preppie” which means 14 things to 15 different people (having attended a prep school being only one of them…) should have a kid take a college off their radar without at least exploring it-- assuming the academic and location factors meet the kids screen.

I don’t find “culture” hard to accept. I find the notion that a teenager (how old is the OP’s kid anyway… 15?) can decide at this age what kind of friends they want to be surrounded by at age 21 or 22 laughable- especially if they’ve not visited the campuses in question.

Sorry I’m not part of the PC police here. We insisted that our kids pay close attention to campus culture when visiting and when making decisions… but were happy when they chose the colleges which were the strongest academic fit for them, with enough of “their people” to feel comfortable even if not the dominant culture on campus, and plenty of opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of other “types” along the way. They even opened their minds a bit towards other people-- a trait which seems to be serving them quite well in the working world where your office mate-- or boss-- could easily be a “dumb jock” or a “partying frat boy”. Nice to leave college having had positive experiences with all types of people without feeling the need to demonize.