<p>Much hilarity ensues.</p>
<p>Best line of the show–“No, I got slutty when I went to college”</p>
<p>[This</a> American Life](<a href=“http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1330]This”>http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1330)</p>
<p>Heard this on Sunday, and agree that was the best line. I told D1 about some of the local homeowner comments about things they find in their yard, which totally grossed her out. Grossed me out, too.</p>
<p>That show was so disturbing to me on so many levels, particularly because the same stories could have been recorded at my kids’ school. It was both funny and horrible, and it was interesting how the interviewer felt kind of conflicted about painting a negative picture, since all the kids seemed so <em>happy.</em> </p>
<p>What I took away from the show was also some blame for the Penn State parents, though this was probably not intended. The part where the parents and kids were all tailgating and drinking together made me wonder if that helped explain the prevalence of this problem. At our own state school, I know plenty of parents simply expect their kids to spend four years drinking since that’s exactly what they themselves did when they attended.</p>
<p>I agree-this was a frightening broadcast. I am the mother of a high school senior just accepted to college, wondering if my child’s experience will resemble this. I hope not. </p>
<p>As I listened to the broadcast, I tried to pinpoint Penn State’s core problems. I have no answers, but it does seem as though the tail-gaiting/party scene is important to many folks there. I, myself, attended a state university where sports were a major affair (there were no professional teams) and game days were big days for local merchants and restaurant owners. But, it all seems extreme at this school. </p>
<p>I feel for students, parents and administrators. But, I also wonder if many students not involved in the party scene feel that their school and everyone’s reputation is being maligned. Surely there are serious kids at Penn State, as there are at every school. I hope these students can graduate with the respect that they deserve.</p>
<p>Clearly, the students at Penn State want to be regarded as students who love to get noisily drunk four or five nights a week, and the vandalism and use of the surrounding neighborhood as a latrine are just supposed to be adorable evidence of their youthful hijinks. They’re asking for my contempt. Well, they’ve got it.</p>
<p>My nephew, who is a quiet studious musician and was accepted to the Eastman School of Music but could not afford it even with a merit award, is a student at Penn State. I guess my S will hear from his cousin re drinking parties and how prevalant it is. I also found the story frightening, and even more so because I think drinking has become more <em>cool</em> than it used to be and pretty much many of the students do not see it as any big deal. But the binge drinking is very scarey and the stories I hear from S indicate that it is pretty common for kids to be drinking all days of the week at his school as well.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why this story was moved from the Parents Forum. It couldn’t be more relevant to the issue of college experience, college selection, etc.</p>
<p>The radio broadcast really got to the core issue: this kind of drinking occurs because students, parents, alumni, and administrators all condone, enable, and even encoursage it as “normal”. That is fundamentally the problem.</p>
<p>The one thing the show got wrong is the inference that this kind of behavior is especially prevalent at state universities. On the contrary, this kind of binge drinking is especially prevalent at private shools. In many cases, economic diversity at state universities tends to hold down overall binge drinking rates a bit.</p>
<p>None of this is suprising about Penn State. I remember posting here about their surveyed binge drinking rates years ago. It was clear from the binge drinking rate alone what kind of campus environment one would experience at Penn State. Those numbers tell a lot. What was described in this show is simply the end-result of a high binge drinking rate and will be found at every school with a high binge drinking rate.</p>
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<p>I agree. I was just discussing campus drinking with a friend who went to college in the 70’s, as I did. I attended an Ivy, she a top LAC, and we <em>never</em> encountered this. Drinking was a total non-issue. Neither one of us could even remember being offered a drink, though the drinking age was 18 and it would have been legal. We both considered drinking to be pretty uncool – like what old people did. And we have both heard that drinking is now a very prominent part of the culture at our old schools. We can’t explain this dramatic shift in one generation.</p>
<p>I went to an Ivy in the 70’s also, and there was plenty of drinking (and even more pot-smoking). But the bingeing that’s now widespread seemed to be confined to a much smaller percentage of the students. Since it was legal to drink at 18, there was no need to ‘pre-game’ and ingest vast quantities of alcohol in a short period of time. Lots and lots of kids got drunk, but relatively few wound up in the emergency room.</p>
<p>The Princeton eating clubs had some blowout parties in the 60’s and 70’s. Don’t know about the rest. F Scott seemed to drink a bit at Princeton too.</p>
<p>[1920:</a> F. Scott Fitzgerald and Princeton](<a href=“http://www.capitalcentury.com/1920.html]1920:”>1920: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Princeton)</p>
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<p>I don’t really know that Penn State has a “problem.” In fact, the same program goes on to described how despite this undistinguished distinction, State College is the safest metropolitan area in the country so perhaps from a public safety standpoint this is more of a good example than a bad example. Oddly, NPR decided not to air the chapter about Penn State’s record for maintaining a safe and ‘happy’ community around the school (only putting it on their website as a ‘bonus’). </p>
<p>Honestly I’m always amused that some people here on CC (perhaps not necessarily the poster of the quote above) seem to think that these “party schools” are purely focused on partying 24/7 but some other schools (eg Ivy Leage) just sit around sipping tea and holding dinner parties. </p>
<p>Sorry to say, but College is college and anyone who thinks that their child’s school doesn’t have the same sort of the thing going on is sorely mistaken. However, that’s not to say that everyone participates in such functions at “party schools” or otherwise. Like lots of things in college, it’s there for those that want to do that sort of thing and for those that don’t there’s plenty of other things to do.</p>