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Yeah, totally... in those type of schools it's a total bloodbath. You're actually not allowed to drive unless you're drunk. I hear at fourth-tier schools they have big yellow bulldozers come every morning to clear away all the crashed cars parts and flaming wreckage that just litter campus from all the pile ups the night before.</p>
<p>And at fifth-tier schools, students are only allowed to have toy Flintstones cars. And the only majors available are Finger Painting and Play-Doh.
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Second, I love the arrogance and elitism there - don't think there's anything I can say to straighten that one up. You'll just have to figure it out on your own
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<p>If you know my socioeconomic background, you will know that I am not a rank fetishist. As a high school student, I dual-enrolled in a fourth-tier local university. (Also 47% went to community college -- 44% went to a four-year school. This doesn't include the 20% dropout rate.) I personally saw the type of behaviour that went there, and the utter lack of intellectual rigour. I would not be surprised if drunk driving was common. Which is why I was personally resolved NOT to end up there.</p>
<p>And of course here in my school, alcohol use is always wink-wink as always, but the emphasis has always been to drink wisely, or at least to get drunk wisely. </p>
<p>And that was an afterthought. More of a talking point for witnessing life-threatening disasters in a school.</p>
<p>The difference is that intellectual rigour is much more abundant in my current school than my previous (dual-enrolled) one; on top of that, the fourth-tier school didn't have a "drink wisely" culture. It was harder to see in the fourth-tier school because it was a commuter school and while I was a high school student all my classmates were 3-5 years older than me, but the difference in vibe was apparent. Things get a lot more sketchy at night.</p>
<p>For a while I hope you realise, I thought my local university was a decent place to end up. THEN I saw how little intellectual rigour they had.</p>
<p>galoisien, you say that you aren't prejudiced and that you are not a "rank fetishist." Here's the situation:</p>
<p>A: there is drunk driving at your first-tier school.
B: you think that drunk driving could happen at a fourth-tier school, too.</p>
<p>The logical conclusion would be, "I guess human behavior is the same, and that attending a higher-ranked school doesn't make a student wiser." </p>
<p>Your conclusion was: "I don't understand how there could be drunk driving in my school, that's only something that happens at lower ranked schools!" Despite direct evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>That's essentially the definition of prejudice and rank fetishism.</p>
<p>I understand where you're coming from, it's always shocking to realize that stupid things can happen to anyone (no matter how smart), but I think you should reexamine your ideas here.</p>
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A: there is drunk driving at your first-tier school.
B: you think that drunk driving could happen at a fourth-tier school, too.</p>
<p>The logical conclusion would be, "I guess human behavior is the same, and that attending a higher-ranked school doesn't make a student wiser."</p>
<p>Your conclusion was: "I don't understand how there could be drunk driving in my school, that's only something that happens at lower ranked schools!" Despite direct evidence to the contrary.
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<p>I didn't think it could happen -- I ATTENDED that fourth-tier school as a dual-enrolled high school student. I also happened to live in a town nearby, and read the newspapers for my area, including <em>gasp</em> the police logs. What prejudiced conclusions did you think I drew? Mind you, my mother got her political science degree from that school (with high honors), so I started out with a pretty good impression.</p>
<p>But again I'm not emphasising rank -- again more of the commuter/non-commuter distinction.</p>
<p>What, Galoisien, there aren't smart people who have economic or life circumstances that mean they have to attend fourth-tier schools as commuter students?</p>
<p>You have a lot to learn if you think that being intellectually smart / being at a "better" school has anything to do with overall life judgment and common sense. People are people everywhere.</p>
<p>"So ... how often does this happen on college campuses? I thought drunk-driving was a problem to be found in fourth-tier schools, not among students with 700+ SAT scores."</p>
<p>Would you also be surprised if you found domestic abuse in a $2 million dollar home, thinking that it's a problem only in the ghetto and not among families with economic means?</p>
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What, Galoisien, there aren't smart people who have economic or life circumstances that mean they have to attend fourth-tier schools as commuter students?
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<p>Like I don't know, my mom who graduated from such a school? <em>rolleyes</em></p>
<p>I'm talking about the overall demographic, naturally.</p>
<p>Given that a former poster on this board who attended Cornall died from drinking on the Uva campus your post is just so simple-minded to beyond belief. And the common sense of Ibanks has proven to be less than that of the average person. Have you slept through the last couple of months. Heard about Lehman and Bear yet? Our little economic meltdown caused most directly by stupid Ibankers??</p>
<p>I was just citing an arbitrary example of a difference between schools lol.</p>
<p>To be honest, until this summer I always thought (as a lower-income student myself) that binge drinking among students was a lower-class problem. Having grown up lower-class, and having plenty of friends who attend commuter schools (as well as one parent), I cannot possibly see how I am being prejudiced, never mind that 1) I've attended a commuter school myself 2) it's impossible to be prejudiced against your own class, since you have lived as a MEMBER of that class.</p>
<p>It's absolutely possible to be prejudiced against your own class. Saying otherwise is like saying that women can't be sexist towards other women, or like saying that someone can't have low self-esteem.</p>
<p>In my personal experience as a low-income student, we're not the problem. We can't afford the liquor, nor do we have a vehicle to drive when drunk. It's the kids who have grown up with the knowledge that they'll be successful in life regardless of their effort, that is, the affluent ones, who are given the leeway to drink irresponsibly and drive afterward. That's just my experience, personally. The poor kids at my high school drank, but the ones who binged, did drugs, and drove afterward were all middle class to wealthy.</p>
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Okay, now I know not to take you seriously.
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<p>Huh?</p>
<p>How can you have unfair biases about something if you have experienced that thing yourself? (At least negatively -- it's easy to have positive biases, of course.)</p>
<p>"How can you have unfair biases about something if you have experienced that thing yourself?"</p>
<p>Easy. Couldn't an Irish Catholic easily say that Irish people tend to get drunk? Or a Jewish person say that Jewish people tend to be tight with their money? Those are negative stereotypes being expressed by people who are members of that class.</p>
<p>Galoisien, you are clearly an intelligent young man, but really naive if you thought that binge-drinking was confined to certain socioeconomic classes. BTW, in more affluent suburban areas, it's the wealthier kids who tend to have better access to drugs. Oh whoops, I'm reasonably affluent, I can't say that! LOL.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is because that while intelligence (book smarts) may be higher at top tier schools, emotional and psychological development are no different between top tier schools and "lesser" schools. No matter how smart or how affluent is, or how much common sense a 18 year old has, they are still only 18 years old and will behave as such. </p>
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To be honest, until this summer I always thought (as a lower-income student myself) that binge drinking among students was a lower-class problem. Having grown up lower-class, and having plenty of friends who attend commuter schools (as well as one parent), I cannot possibly see how I am being prejudiced, never mind that 1) I've attended a commuter school myself 2) it's impossible to be prejudiced against your own class, since you have lived as a MEMBER of that class.
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<p>Then you went to a school with a lot of rich (or, upper middle class) kids, and you have found out that they drink just as much, just with higher quality booze. Probably from the weekly booze allowance that their parents give them.</p>