<p>ugh, migraines suck worse</p>
<p>cadmiumred…I as a parent I find your posts regarding fraternities to be seriously flawed. Please stop posting about something that for whatever reason you see no value in. You are unable to see anything positive in a large group of people living together and forming a support system for each other. The casino that you speak of is something the brothers do during rush if I am not mistaken. It is not a weekly event and in fact it probably isn’t something they do more than twice a year. There are also many different types of Frats on the campus and some are very low key. You are painting a picture of drunken kids blowing their money at a nearby casino. </p>
<p>I understand that your son is young and you are frightened about the recent events but you have been posting alot on both the Cornell thread and AU thread. There just does not seem to be too much that is making you happy right now. I do feel that kids at the age of 18 are still too young to affiliate with a frat but it is not for the reasons that you mention. When kids first arrive on campus they need to get their feet wet and discover for themselves the type of guys they would like to be in a brotherhood with. I too would be in favor of seeing rush begin in soph year ONLY because the student has had enough time to grow and develop into their own person and could possibly affililiate with a more compatible frat.</p>
<p>I sense from your post that you are not happy with either your son or your daughter right now. You mentioned that your sons grades were all excellent for his first semester. You may want to consider that Cornell is a big transition from highschool and it is also important that your son develop relationships at Cornell. One day your son will graduate and it will not be his classroom or his pile of books that will provide the memories that warm his heart, it will be the experiences and friendships that he will forever remember about Cornell. You seem to believe that your son could be coaxed to do something that he does not want to do. If you are secure in the job you have done as a parent than you must try to let go a bit and allow your son to grow into the man you hope to see him become. He can not do it if all he hears from you are problems, complaints and flaws with the school he should be feeling the upmost of pride and respect for. I am not saying that kids go off to school and don’t do stupid things but that is part of the process and that is how we learned and navigated our way through the years…now it is his turn. I grew up in the late 60’s and early 70’s and my generation saw far more than almost any kid today. There was an expression about the 60’s and 70’s…“If you could remember them than you weren’t living at the time”. Does that mean that we were all drug using anti government types…NO. We survived one of the most turbulent times of history and our kids have it much easier in terms of the social climate IMHO. </p>
<p>Trust your son to be the person you have raised him to be. Allow him to spread his wings and if he should ever go off the path than you are there as his mother. If you keep telling your son about the problems you see than he will view the world in much the same way…I don’t think you really want that.</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that the students here are proud of their Cornell education. I am proud of the education my sons are receiving as well, but I am also proud of the men they are becoming and that has not happened just because of their grades and hard work. It is for everything that Cornell has allowed them to experience.</p>
<p>Cornell is now on CNN</p>
<p>momma3 - nice.</p>
<p>And the CNN article is pretty positive, actually. #2 most read after wal-mart’s “racist PA announcement” article.</p>
<p>suicide #2 this year for Northwestern was confirmed.</p>
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<p>Sad. And Northwestern has around half the number of undergrads as Cornell.</p>
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<p>I would be a big fan of an optional, free three week ‘winter term’ featuring student led courses, much like what Williams and Middlebury do. Unfortunately this would cost money. </p>
<p>I loved Ithaca in the winter. I tended to stick around for a couple of days exams were over in December and would come back earlier and earlier in January, despite not being in a fraternity. But I don’t think you would get a general level of enthusiasm for returning back to campus any earlier.</p>
<p>I think that one of the big factors in starting later in January is to keep heating costs down.</p>
<p>Cayuga:</p>
<pre><code>Your suggestions are very sound and thoughtful. Thank you!
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<p>MomofThree:</p>
<pre><code> You are not getting it. Please stop turning your arguments on my son. He has many friends and connections and is doing well at Cornell. My posts are about MY observations about what goes on through what I personally have observed and heard as to whether I feel that the academic or frat scene in GENERAL is productive or not. We are discussing what is happening here and why. I can’t imagine why you just don’t comprehend that. I am evaluating whether what goes academic wise and social wise is exacerbating the kids who are not well or motivating kids who ARE well to have irrational
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<p>responses. You don’t know me or my son so please stop trying to make personal evaluations. I don’t know you and would not try to evaluate you or your family based on
a thread on a message board. Are you kidding me??</p>
<p>Top 14, people. Top 14.</p>
<p>I agree with norcalguy…</p>
<p>Very funny! If that’s true, I’m glad my alma wasn’t ranked that high because I learned how to think rationally, not be negative & also have fun. Note to self: increase annual gift to my alma.</p>
<p>the one inaccuracy about the CNN article is that is says the guards are restricting access to the bridges, which they are obviously not doing (how could they?)</p>
<p>I have been reading a lot of the comments on articles in the national media. I read all the NYT ones, and now all these CNN ones. (I’m done with prelims till break, don’t worry!) a lot of commenters use rhetoric I haven’t called on since I was trying to make my English papers reach the page requirements in high school. anecdotes are be used to support any narrative, but statistics are mistrusted. I forgot there were so many anti-numbers people out there, since I spent all my time here around people who are keenly interested in error bars and the like. that people are taking tragedies and using them to unreasonably slam colleges/Cornell/society just irks me.</p>
<p>(I know I could just not read, but I needed to have an adequate sample size for me observations…and some people did say some very interesting things.)</p>
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<p>It’s actually a big problem, especially for the ‘ordinary’ state schools out there. State budget cuts have absolutely destroyed a lot of these campuses, and their alumni don’t feel a particular affiliation to them because ‘they pay their taxes’.</p>
<p>What a lot of the American public misses is that a strong higher education system, not just ‘at the top’, but in the middle, has been what has made the American economy so strong and resilient. Instead we have been focused on a trillion dollar war of choice in Iraq and fighting a war against a health care bill that will result in a healthier population, lower health care costs, and help to reduce the country’s long-term deficit.</p>
<p>/end rant</p>
<p>Long story short, support your ‘regional’ colleges and universities as well!</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of shortening winter break: there’s already a 3 month break between Spring semester & Fall & after Fall semester 2 or 3 weeks off after working hard might not be enough of a break; I think they’d like to avoid the weather in January.</p>
<p>Greek life- Cornell does it better than many other schools that have pledging 1st semester. Also, at Cornell rush isn’t during the academic term & only those who want to participate have to be on campus. The downside of delaying pledging until Sophomore year is that many classes are harder. As it works now, if someone doesn’t want to pledge Freshman year there are frats that will take them later. So no one is twisting anyone’s arm to join.</p>
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<p>I’m not really certain that classes get harder sophomore year, especially because students will now have a full year of getting their studying skills up to par.</p>
<p>You’re right that nobody’s twisting anybody’s arm to join. But that’s not my point. My point is that for somebody who isn’t interested in the Greek scene (but all of a sudden finds that their entire freshman hall is going through the pledging process) second semester freshman year can be a lonelier/more difficult semester than it should be, especially because you need to worry about where you are going to live next year.</p>
<p>I was lucky to live with a bunch of great guys freshmen year who weren’t interested in going Greek. And that made all of the difference for me. Unfortunately, so much of life is luck and the randomness of fate, and maybe there should be more than one semester in the dorms before you decide what is best for you, socially. Dartmouth does it to great benefit.</p>
<p>Totally agree with you Cayuga!</p>
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<p>That’s funny, because I’ve disagreed with just about everything you have said. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with Cornell. Cornell offers one of the best educational environments in the country. Some things along the edges can be improved, but that doesn’t change its underlying nature.</p>
<p>CR - Out of curiosity, did your S pledge a frat this year?</p>
<p>was he even allowed to?</p>
<p>CR’s worries are not necessarily illogical for a parent (underaged drinking, too much academic pressure, suicides, etc.). Her suggestions of cancelling exams, getting rid of the Greek system, and showering everyone with A’s are just ridiculous. Let these kids take some responsibility for their own actions instead of having the university hold their hand the entire way. Cornell is not that type of school.</p>