Considering how segregated many areas are, especially by SES, often by race/ethnicity, it is not surprising that, for some students, college is much more diverse in these respects than K-12 school, even if the college is not that diverse compared to other colleges in these respects.
Conundrum. We want the best we can have for our kids which includes choosing a safe, nice neighborhood with good schools et al. And the area we find work may not be as diverse. Should be aim for less satisfactory places to be exposed to it all? So- one reason for college is to expand horizons. Big city meets small town or farm kid. East meets west, north meets south… Rich kid rooms with scholarship/work study kid…
M D17 was surprised that grades were handed out in grade point increments of: 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, etc. No letter grades.
“Should be aim for less satisfactory places to be exposed to it all?”
Possibly, yes. If a “nice” neighborhood doesn’t have poor people or people of color, that is often by design. People with economic and social power have an obligation to fight those designs.
I would go to school if it’s good regardless of whatever diversity. I mean, diversity level differs greatly from one town to next in USA so hard to say what setting is not diverse.
I certainly think that it is desirable for our kids to interact in high school with all races, genders, etc but in the case above where it was the first time they were in a class together I do not see how it is a big issue.
Different races do not learn differently? Presumably they all sit and take notes and ask questions.
It’s not that they learn differently it’s that they bring different experiences to the table. If you are reading To Kill a Mockingbird in an all white class it’s different than if you have people of color in it as well. If you are reading about union busting in history class, you might want to have kids with family members who are members of unions. If you are learning about immigration, you might like to get the perspective of some recent immigrants.
I was pretty shocked at how prevalent racism is until I started having conversations about my SIL’s experience growing up in the midwest where she was the only mixed race kid in her school.
People of different cultures DO learn differently. If you want to educate everyone, you have to meet their cultural expectations for appropriate learning. Sitting and taking notes and asking questions does not meet everyone’s cultural expectations for appropriate learning. There are literally thousands (millions?) of research studies that have found that children from different cultures learn differently.
Or if the topic of “white flight” comes up in a history course in a school in a neighborhood currently experiencing that kind of demographic change.
Or if issues relating to wealth and poverty are discussed in a school in a neighborhood containing both wealthy and poor areas.
Granted, schools in such situations are not that common, and these types of neighborhood situations tend to be transient.
i got my Master’s at Princeton and I felt the Christmas holiday /reading period was just me feeling guilty for not studying 24 x 7
Shhhhh… My S’s studying right now in his room… He’s been in his room all day, everyday, since he got back from Princeton for the winter break… 
@TiggerDad @bopper This could also tie into the “stupidest reason” thread, but Princeton’s academic calendar was one reason it was crossed off my list early.
One thing that does explain Princeton’s lower yield rate in comparison to its peers… along with the ongoing perception of grade deflation in spite of the fact that they did away with the practice.
This may be a bit off topic. How do people feel about the winter session in schools using the semester calendar? Do you find it useful? Or is it a nuisance or even a waste of time? Schools on the quarter system don’t have the winter session and students generally don’t have to vacate their dorms during the short session.
I love January term. It is a perfect time for study abroad, and my student can do several of them. Also good for getting a required but dull course out of the way on campus without suffering thru a semester.
Not a parent but here are some things I learned as a freshman a couple years ago:
- Laundry was harder than I thought. It was def an experience learning how to do that
- Things actually costed money. The amazon prime bill didn’t zero out by itself anymore. Took a quarter or two to learn how to budget for extra expenses.
- Learning to be flexible for whatever comes up. The predicable schedule of living at home and in high school went out the window once I got to school.
- Engineering isn’t easy. High school was easy and I thought engineering would be like a slightly harder high school. Adults and my parents always said AP classes were hard and when they said engineering would be tough I thought it was an exaggeration. First quarter I used high school study habits and spent too much time having fun/goofing off. Let’s say I quickly learned my lesson after final grads came out. Now I’ve learned how to manage my time much better. I had friends that went to UCLA for Poli Sci and Econ and they said it wasn’t too hard so I also assumed it would hold true for stem.
@maya54, your daughter’s comment that all you need to be able to do your own laundry is to see colours in order to sort got me thinking - I am raising sons who actually cannot see colours! It’s 5 % of the male population, so not even that rare…
Being of the red-blind variant, they do not just perceive hue differently but also shade. I need to resort all older son’s laundry because he keeps putting the brights in with the darks. Orange, rose, red, all look dull and dark to him, he can’t tell them from ochre or brown. Deep red looks black.
So by the time he moves out, we need to make sure his clothes are all in shades of white, blue, grey and black! If he even cares, he can go back to wearing bright colours once he lives with a partner with adequate colour vision.
@tigerle or he can learn to always put color catchers in his wash and use cold water.
Now we are getting really off topic but what on earth are colour catchers?
They are these specially designed sheets (like a dryer fabric softener sheet) that are supposed to be able to absorb the excess dye that washes off the clothing so it doesn’t deposit on other items. You can get them at most grocery stores. I tried them a couple years ago, and it seemed to work, but honestly, with a family it made more sense to split my loads. Could be helpful to a college student who is only washing clothing for himself.