<p>I hate to start another alcohol-related thread, but I thought this was an excellent blog post that references a recent broadcast of "This American Life."</p>
<p>Oh my, some folks don’t want to live up to his viewpoint of what college should be like. Funny to hear from the type of person that goes on to become a professor and never really leaves the college life. Maybe if he had a real job he might understand the viewpoint of the students–life is probably going to be tough and grinding so have some fun while you can. And mostly they are correct in that belief. And they go on to earn the money that pays the taxes and donate $$$$$ and pay tuition that allow the prof to have his life of the mind. Screw him.</p>
<p>Wow really? ^ Sounds to me like you chose the wrong profession to be in! So you don’t have parties? Hang with friends? Take weekends off? Travel? What on earth went wrong? You know, its not too late to scale back work, downsize, and start enjoying your life a bit more.</p>
<p>I lead a miserable life and hate people who haven’t chosen the path of misery. Damn your happiness!</p>
<p>barrons, you’re saying that “have some fun” in college means it’s OK and acceptable to drunkenly drive into parked cars and to pee in the next door neighbor’s bedroom?</p>
<p>barrons since when is being a professor not a “real job?” If you believe that silly assertion what on earth are you doing on CC??</p>
<p>If barrons had actually read the piece, he might have noticed that the author was a woman.</p>
<p>As Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” College students typically do not necessarily have to lead lives devoid of meaning and pleasure that barrons bitterly describes and the college students fear. Our economic system is competitive and globalization is magnifying that dramatically. But, people who invest in their own human capital and focus on what gives them meaning can have economically workable jobs and lives that give them meaning. </p>
<p>While late adolescence is a time when people do not necessarily think much beyond themselves, especially when inebriated, I don’t see why decrying vandalism of cars and houses merits the vitriolic response given above. I really hope my kids forgo what seems like inexcusable behavior and that they imagine adulthood as a time for opportunity and growth and not dessicated grumbling about paying taxes.</p>
<p>The author has a hard time understanding why today’s undergrads have a dim view of adulthood? I have a hard time believing that. </p>
<p>Let’s see, there is Iraq, Afghanistan, our economy imploded, unemployment in record numbers, national debt, health care and on and on. </p>
<p>Let me guess, the author would be horribly offended if someone pointed out that some people who make their living in academia tend to drift away from reality. </p>
<p>Oy.</p>
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<p>Now, let’s be fair. It’s not uncommon to read an article on the Web without taking note of who wrote it. No need to get all ad hominem.</p>
<p>I read it but did not worry about the sex of who wrote it.
I have a great job but put in many years in the corporate rate race. Most surveys indicate people are not all that thrilled with their jobs. Even as much as Ilike my job it’s not the fun life of college.</p>
<p>I have many friends who are profs, and it’s nothing like real work. That’s why the pay is poor for as long as you have to go to school to get into it.</p>
<p>And I don’t condone the damage done by drunks. I don’t rrecall doing any of those things and partied plenty. But I have seen some of it and it’s not cool to do.</p>
<p>barrons, so because the poor dears are going to have to work hard after college, that means they can vandalize property to have fun?</p>
<p>Let barrons be barrons. . . ;)</p>
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<p>Well, you just explained all the benefits of becoming a professor.</p>
<p>a) it’s nothing like real work
b) I get to stay in academia for the rest of my life
c) I get to be a student for an outrageously long time
d) I get paid to do something I like</p>
<p>Hey, one time there was this Jew who killed someone. Jews are murderers.</p>
<p>This article is dumb. Nothing much more to say. It is akin to the statement above.</p>
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<p>It’s a little tricky without a blog link to go back and check that out. </p>
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<p>Don’t you have to publish research all the time or something?</p>
<p>Yes, they do. But in most areas it’s hardly high pressure business. Once you get tenure–which is the hard part-you are fine publishing one paper a year. You teach 2 classes per semester–that’s maybe 10 hours total work as your TA does the grading of papers and exams. You have 30 hours left for meetings and research. I spent lots of time in the academic buildings and they were ghost towns on most Fridays. And weekends–forget it. Only young science profs work weekends. Many profs took an hour a day to go to the gym or play tennis or squash and maybe a long lunch. There is not much of the crush of frequent deadlines and other corporate type BS.</p>
<p>Someone please quote the blog so we can see what’s being discussed here.</p>
<p>I feel sorry for people who are so emotionally impoverished that they regard their college years as the best years of their lives. Virtually every phase of my life has been the best years of my life. Right now, is the best time of my life. </p>
<p>My college junior son is having a fantastic time in college, and while he says that it’s the best time of his life so far, he is anticipating that his post college life also will be the best time of his life. His idea of fun isn’t, however, getting smashed.</p>
<p>I suspect that students who view college as the best time of their lives are students who view the academics of college as simply being tickets to getting jobs, and the only ECs that they become active in are those that consist of extensive partying. Sad that their perspective is so self limiting.</p>
<p>"One aspect of undergraduate drinking I’ve heard from college students, and which is noted in this This American Life recording, is the belief that college is the last party they’ll ever attend, so if they don’t make maximum use of their college years to engage in drunken vandalism and a$$hattery, they’ll have squandered something precious. I understand the feeling that college is a special time in life–it most certainly is. What’s more disturbing is the impoverished vision of adulthood this belief implies. Instead of seeing graduation from college as an exciting beginning of their lives as free adults who can explore the world, establish themselves in their chosen fields, and/or engage in creative projects, it’s just the first blow of the work whistle they’ll be waking up to for the rest of their lives. For example: it’s striking to me how young most of these students marry and have children. But instead of seeing these events as joyous milestones in their own lives, they apparently see them as millstones of adult obligation they must undertake, regardless of their own wants, talents, or needs.</p>
<p>Why do they have such a dreary view of adulthood? (Is it just an excuse to engage in drunken mayhem in college?) All I wanted when I was a child and a teenager was to be older, to have more freedom and to have more responsibility for myself. I looked forward to adulthood all my life, so I really don’t understand what’s not appealing about it. I wish there was some way of getting our students to think about college as an introduction to how to have a full and rich adult life. But all of that alcohol is probably permanently altering their brain chemistry and perhaps dooming them to the narrow, dull lives they imagine we adults all share.</p>
<p>I’m betting that many of you have stories to tell about living in college towns. Do you think your students share this grim, joyless view of adulthood? "</p>
<p>Blog links have been removed because College Confidential doesn’t allow links to personal websites.</p>