<p>My child's first choice to date has been Notre Dame. As a Catholic family, we are attracted to the values aspect of a ND education. However, as I searched the net to find out all I could about ND, I discovered a website, <a href="http://www.uhnd.com%5B/url%5D">www.uhnd.com</a>, and was appalled. The discussions between these Notre Dame alums was crude, crass and filthy. I don't want to pay Notre Dame tuition for 4 years if these are the values Notre Dame instills</p>
<p>Ah, wheretogomom, I have a hunch you could find similar trash talking on sports websites for pretty much any university in the country. My guess is that a lot of the discussions aren't among alumni, but rather current students, bursting with testosterone as 19-, 20-, 21-year old guys are bound to be. I'm pretty sure my own son has this one bookmarked...</p>
<p>I am a Notre Dame alumna myself, but would be unlikely to go on those boards because (a) I have a life and (b) I'm not a testosterone-bursting post-adolescent, such as the type who frequent these boards. </p>
<p>What this website did was open the door to the locker room, which is the same as any locker room at any university in the country; the nature of the beast.</p>
<p>That being said, I'm not all that offended when I consider the source. There are tremendous values the university instills in its students, which guide me to this day, and guide my son as well. While distasteful to some, online trash-talking seems a venial sin compared to many others. The business ethics lessons I learned at Notre Dame carry with me to this day--I was even let go from a job as a comptroller, once, because I refused to cheat employees out of pay that was due them, and also refused to be deceptive in financial reporting. </p>
<p>If you are thinking of ND as a major seminary and nunnery, you probably have the wrong idea. There is, as there is on any campus, plenty of crude, crass, filthiness to go around. There are kids who get drunk and pass out in the common areas. There is plenty of pre-marital sex going on, despite a prohibition of it in the du lac handbook. </p>
<p>Depends on which values you think will be most lasting (passing out in the common area gets old pretty quick--looking at the bigger picture of the world when making decisions will last forever). </p>
<p>In my own experience, the kind of values ND grads espouse are the kinds that make the world a better place to live. If they get a little crude, crass and filthy along the way, I don't see it as that big of a deal. If you do, then perhaps ND is not the place for you. Thing is, though, realistically, under that set of standards, I don't know how many places anywhere could meet your standards.</p>
<p>Although I'm not an alum, I'll second what ddjones has written! As the parent of a freshman son, I couldn't be more pleased with his choice of attending Notre Dame. Keep in mind that we tried to allow our son to make the choice of what school to attend! I will tell you, however, that we visited MANY schools from the East coast to the West coast, North to South. We witnessed some pretty shocking things on college campuses these days--as well as seeing some of these events being written about in the student newspapers (and not in a negative light, I might add!). While I do not pretend to believe that Notre Dame is a perfect world, I would have to say that it is indeed a class act. It has been said before, and I really don't know how else to characterize it. I think that my son is having the true college experience thus far, minus some of the over the top shocking activities that are occurring on college campuses today. And, I also believe that he will grow as a person while there to become a productive human being with the values that we, as parents, tried to instill. Try truly visiting many different campuses--you will understand.</p>