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<p>What if it really was a “great important and urgent cause,” one that could change lives? And would you really judge her if she entered into a relationship that seemed promising but then resulted in a broken heart? Isn’t all of this part of the learning process? Or is GPA and graduating on time all that you care about?</p>
<p>How is this
all that different from locking her away in a closet? Am only half kidding. Gee, let her make HER choices for the climate she wants. Not the one you want. </p>
<p>In years past there were parents who considered quitting their job and moving to the city their child chose to attend college.</p>
<p>Hand her a copy of the Yale Daily News’ Insiders Guide to Colleges. She’ll get the political flavor of the schools and she can choose for herself.</p>
<p>Are you visiting campuses? Also, OP said her D will need scholarships to fund college. This means there is likely not the financial luxury of 4 years of finding herself and maybe trying to change the world. She needs an education and a job. Not distractions. Although, some distractions are likely to pop up anywhere. I agree. </p>
<h1>323 Yes, we are visiting campuses, some this summer when they are pretty empty though.</h1>
<p>What if it really was a “great important and urgent cause,” one that could change lives? And would you really judge her if she entered into a relationship that seemed promising but then resulted in a broken heart? Isn’t all of this part of the learning process? Or is GPA and graduating on time all that you care about?</p>
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<h1>320 I will answer your questions in order:</h1>
<p>Any cause that great or important should have adults who have resources already working on them. She will make a bigger impact on any cause after she is independent and self-supporting.</p>
<p>Our culture says serious relationships come after finishing education.</p>
<p>Our resources are not so unlimited that GPA & graduating on time can be taken lightly.</p>
<p>These are tough times in the country and in the world. Young people are forced by circumstances to be more serious and less frivolous than the previous generation if they want to succeed.</p>
<p>Lets hope her thinking is more open minded.</p>
<h1>326 Why does it matter to you how open-minded, by your standards, one particular college kid you’ve never met is? Why this wish for conformity to your ideals?</h1>
<p>College is about growth and learning. Sounds like the intent is for her to become educated with the risk of stifling some other learning and growth opportunities. That makes me sad.</p>
<p>In return, why is it so uncomfortable for a parent to allow their child to attend a school where political opinions may be shared (read: COLLEGE) and opportunities to get involved in a variety of activities are to be restricted by the parent?</p>
<p>scholarme, why even allow your child to go to college in the U.S.? Wouldn’t your goals be better met in your home country or another place where the risk of becoming acclimated/affected by the culture here (which includes “activism,” for some) would be minimized?</p>
<p>LOL -22 pages of trying to convince the OP that she shouldn’t have been asking her misguided, unreasonable question in the first place. . . . I luv CC! 
Carry on. </p>
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<p>Very ironic question considering OP posted one reason for his fear is his HS friend being enticed into becoming an armed communist guerrilla fighter while an undergrad at a university in his country of origin. </p>
<p>Closest parallel…however tenuous from my observation was how several HS classmates pulling Alex Keatons on their hippie or progressively lefty activist parents by doing ROTC with the intent to commission or applying/attending to the Federal Service Academies or military oriented colleges like Norwich or VMI. Said parents were quite beside themselves to put it mildly. </p>
<p>And… A cobrat non sequitur to the rescue!!</p>
<p>"Said parents were quite beside themselves to put it mildly. "</p>
<p>I am a very liberal <em>surprise, surprise</em> cultural Jew and I chose to send my kid to a Catholic prep school with a mandatory ROTC program. Kid even had to wear the uni (complete with medals earned) to school every day. </p>
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<p>Jym, I think your responses might have been prompted by not having read this entire thread, and see how it developed. </p>
<p>While most or all us have opined that the OP should not harbor such worries regarding the years to come, it remains that our collective opinion does not render the OPs silly or unwarranted. All of us are entitled in beliefs that are personal. </p>
<p>Speaking about the closed-mindness, this thread surely has been a reminder of the days of a certain forum that had to be closed because of its intolerance and overall nastiness, often expressed by the “majority.” </p>
<p>Some here have even expressed that such thread should not exist on CC. Obviously ignoring the precise of words of the TOS directing this site. </p>
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<p>And, even more obviously, the same posters, under the guise of their non atypical moral and intellectual superiority, do not think that this part of the TOS is important:</p>
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<p>Questioning the OP’s motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics (such as her parenting style or even mental stability" has surely be all over the place. </p>
<p>Again, had the OP asked the same question but with the desire to find a college where her kid could engage in deep political activism, she would have received a very different response including the very best schools in the country. What is the basic difference between this thread and this one:</p>
<p><a href=“How to find colleges without partying atmosphere and with predominantly serious students? - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>How to find colleges without partying atmosphere and with predominantly serious students? - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
<p>And, even better, had the OP mentioned that her child was a REALLY DEEP THINKING intellectual that seeks a college where students are dedicated to studying and prefer to quote Søren Kierkegaard rather than mindlessly carry a PETA sign around campus or locking arms for an obscure cause … the responses would have been similar to the many that adorned CC over the years. Oh yes, here goes a college that wants you to describe a giant mustard jar! But this OP deserves a list of community college or MOOCs. Surprising Guantanamo was not suggested as that is the place for the irrational and nutty!</p>
<p>Shameful is how I characterize this thread. Yet hardly surprising! </p>
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<p>Xiggi, with all due respect, you are feeding the beast when you bring in Guantanamo or other bombastic ideas that no one has suggested. I haven’t seen anyone question the OP’s intelligence or mental stability. Parenting style, yes (not that that’s OK). As for her motives, people are questioning them because she has been rather vague and at some times cagey about what they are. No one can help if they don’t have the information at hand to give good advice.</p>
<p>I also think you are setting up a false dichotomy with that other thread, which is focused on finding the OP’s son a school that has students who are serious and not predominantly partiers. The fact that her son has activist tendencies is no more important than the fact that he is also a musician.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s more perception than reality, but there is definitely a perception out there that some schools encourage kids to champion causes and rally about issues and be politically active and engaged. Personally, I think it’s more peers than professors but it happens. Is there a difference between activist activities and parties? Well, I guess if you support the cause you think so, otherwise maybe not so much. I didn’t find the OP cagey at all.</p>
<p>xiggi,
The OP started the thread acknowledging that he/she is going to be seen as narrow-minded. Am simply agreeing. The thread title is one of those that will engender a reaction. Short of perhaps Liberty or Oral Roberts, its pretty likely there will be some political discussions and, heaven forbid, even some rallies on college campuses. It is sad that that will bother some parents who think their child should be cloistered from such.</p>
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<p>Activism doesn’t generally cause debilitating hangovers…</p>
<p>Missed the edit window (sure wish it was longer than 15’.) And while we’re at it, sure wish we could set the pages to 40 posts per page like on the old forum. WOuld make it easier to read the behemoth threads.</p>
<p>But I digress.</p>
<p>I think your response, xiggi, may have been prompted by not reading all of my posts, but responding to only the last.</p>
<p>There have been plenty of threads where a parent or student is looking for intellectually stimulating schools, conservative schools, you name it. But a schools with no politics? I repeat, if there is a college where students are not talking about, oh, say… the issues that led to the Malaysia plane being shot down, I would find that very sad. Sad indeed.</p>