You are not the one who gets to decide this.
I’ve heard the question on a couple of tours, when we are going through the dorm with a hallway bathroom. The answer, of course, varied with the school we were touring. Some said it was single sex, others said it was co-ed and then explained the system. It was a good question for the tour guide to answer because then s/he could launch into an explanation on the various housing options.
It’s great that some of u loved your co-ed bathrooms, and married someone you met in one while going from a Hendrix concert to a peace rally. But its a bit much to accuse everybody who’s not down with the cause to be McMansion-dwelling residents of Squaresville.
And it’s not a bit much to assume that anyone who loved or waa indifferent to coed bathrooms is a radical hippie who’s trying to prove they’re enlightened or whatever?
Back in the 80’s my large sophomore dorm had bathrooms that were originally single sex, but we voted to turn them coed because no one wanted to have to go all the way down the hall to get to their designated bathroom. The deal was that if in the 24 hours after the vote anyone who didn’t like the idea spoke with the RA or wrote him an anonymous note the bathrooms would remain single sex. Each floor voted separately but all 4 ended up coed. I don’t know if kids just aren’t as bothered by all this as their parents think, they adjust to a bit less privacy after a year or two in college, or if today’s college students are more privacy conscious than we were.
On a separate note, I find it interesting that people are more concerned about using a stall next to someone of the opposite sex than they are next to someone of their own gender. It all strikes me as a bit Victorian, as if guys don’t think women pass gas. Frankly, I don’t want to be producing unpleasant noises or smells near anyone, regardless of gender.
I confess to not being very comfortable with co-ed bathrooms. I guess I had a very different experience with bathrooms used by the opposite sex in college than most posters here.
Where I went to college, the boys would occasionally use the girls bathroom in the wee hours of the night. But only after asking permission of the girls on the floor at the start of the year and on condition that bathroom was unoccupied.
Girls never used the boys bathroom - again, except during the wee hours of the night. Then, their boyfriends might sneak them so they could use the shower together. But getting clean wasn’t really the primary objective … 
You’d walk in sometimes. Can’t really put a sock on the door of a bathroom used by 50 guys.
So that experience is what goes through my head when I think of co-ed bathrooms in college. Fortunately for my sanity, none of my kids have one where they are.
I have never been to a Hendrix concert or a peace rally. Pretty sure my wife hasn’t been to either as well. Needless to say, we didn’t meet at either or on the way from one to the other.
Just some great points. Most people don’t mind passing gas next to someone of the same gender but someone of the opposite gender starts to get “gender bending”. Maybe we all just need to get ourselves but on the other hand maybe we should keep things as is. If somebody though feels comfortable passing gas next to someone of the opposite gender and say a hearty, “How how you doing!,” afterwards more power to the people." It won’t be my kids however.
Huh?
Ever been to a youth camping experience? If not you missed out I guess
“When you say religion is a dealbreaker, do you mean schools that are overtly (aggressively?) religious like, say, Liberty or some of the Catholic schools that are very religious, or do you mean any religion? Even, say, schools with historical ties that aren’t at all overtly religious anymore and are now very liberal. We’re Protestant and several of my son’s choices are historically Protestant (Lutheran, Church of the Brethren, etc.) but which are liberal enough to have LGBT housing, other diversity, and no religious requirements. Not being argumentative, just curious where you would draw the line.”
That is a good question. Here is my response.
Intolerance of:
- Other religions or no religion (Wheaton)
- LGBT people
- Evolution, geology or science in general
- Women’s rights and birth control (Georgetown)
- All races
- Perspectives based on facts and evidence
Boy this thread is really in the toilet.
I started a potty war.
My kids all ended up at schools which were great fits for them, have launched them successfully into their chosen careers, and expanded their minds and horizons in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. I would have been concerned if rather than focusing on the quality of the intellectual offerings and the intensity of the academic experience they were unduly concerned about the quality of the plumbing.
I get not wanting your kid at a second rate school overrun by underpaid adjuncts which doesn’t offer graduate level courses for academically talented undergrads. And I also get not wanting to pay top dollar for said second rate school.
But the bathrooms? Jeez.
My dealbreaker was “any college which is going to be like a 5th year of HS”. i.e. kid walks in and coasts on the AP credits, gets to retake classes they’ve already taken (either in full or part), essentially replicates their HS curriculum. After that it was on them to make a case for why college X and not college Y.
I learn something new every day on CC. Not sure we EVER asked about bathrooms on the tour- it was mostly a given that a community of 5,000 or 10,000 human beings living, eating and studying in close quarters would have adequate plumbing.
@SlackerMomMD
Yes, but I set the budget.
Many colleges which allow advanced placement with AP credit give students the option to take the advanced placement or retake the course allowed to be skipped. So whether a student replicates his/her last year of high school courses in his/her first semester of college courses often depends on the student’s course selection, not college selection.
On graduation rates…that’s just silly. The graduation rate is directly proportional to the ability and will of the student. If your kid is motivated and intelligent, they will finish in 4 years or less (if that is the plan). If not, they probably will not. The rates of other people do not matter other than to give you an idea of the overall caliber of the ‘average’ student at that school.
On Alabama…by way of Oklahoma…S1 had the option of either school with the NMF essentially full ride. OU allows for 5 years of tuition. Many of his mates in the Scholars program came in with AP credits. The Scholars get to pick classes first, too. So there are really not obstacles to graduating early in those programs. The overall grad rates might be lower, but if you look among similarly situated students at the prestige schools, you will see the same rates or better among the Scholars. Mine will finish in 4 years with an MS. We suggested he slow down and enjoy the ride, maybe go on a Semester Abroad or something…he would rather be done sooner. As with all of it, his dime, his choice.
On bathrooms, my kids (2 of each) share a bathroom at home. They are siblings, not really the same. Coed bathrooms can make for embarrassing interactions among potential dating partners. Those I know who live on floors with them tended to feel like they had to get ‘dressed’ to go the john. It also takes a little of the mystique away from the whole dating process. Sure, someone may have enjoyed the proximity, but it can be very uncomfortable for many…even those who initially thought it would be OK…‘it was great until we broke up…now I run into him/her every time I want to relieve myself’.
As with everything else, most here are adults. Make your own rules. Just don’t make me follow them.
Graduation rates tell the story of a school at the macro level. Are they called 6 year schools now?
I technically took 5 years to graduate from mine 20 years ago as well because I did a masters in 5 program. As did my husband. We saved a couple of undergraduate classes for our 5th year and began taking graduate level classes in our 4th year. It was a program our university had for some majors (psychology and accounting in our cases).
The point I think a lot of people are making is that it doesn’t make sense to blanket rule a college/university out for not having high enough 4 year grad rates if you aren’t finding out why it’s taking a significant portion of the students longer and evaluating whether there is a good reason (amazing co-ops, masters in 5 programs,etc) vs a negative reason (poor advising, inability to get needed classes in time, etc)
If more is better when it comes to co-ed washroom familiarity, let’s just drop ALL the Victorian hangups…I’m thinking Starship Troopers-style showers, and the rows of 20 toilets sans partitions that my father told me were standard equipment in WWII army barracks. Come on you prudes, just think how much fun that would be!!