191–200 of 222 posts
As college morphs into High School+, and society extends their definition of 'childhood' to cover up to age 25, steps will be taken to destroy the autonomy and personality of these 'children.' Children are entitled no rights, no difference of opinion from them is respected, and any degree of control over them, no matter how extreme, is always seen as warranted.
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One bit of useful context is that MIT has way more culture and persistent identity tied to its dorms than most schools. My undergrad shuttled students to a new building every year, and wouldn't let anyone stay in dorms over the summer. "Dorm culture" was basically nonexistent. At MIT, students have significant choice of dorm, can stay in one place for four years, and can stay on campus in their room over summers. The…
Thanks for bringing this point up. Without that context, this issue could seem fairly trivial. I would go as far as to say that living group culture (e.g, which side of campus, living group, floor, and even finer grain) is the strongest social bond that most MIT undergrads establish. While students participate is a wide variety of activities and intramural sports, living groups are where you come home to. If you didn…
Also a good point. I don't think the MIT administration is so clueless that they assume this behavior will disappear when the dorm closes. I suspect they're hoping to change behavior at the margins - that somebody who might have tried acid because so many of their suitemates in Senior did will make a different choice.
I think the decision is a mistake regardless, and I think the reasons given are generally pretty small-minded. Does MIT of all places really need to juice its graduation rate? Are the students who don't graduate being harmed, or just taking a different path? But I can certainly see why MIT might take aim at dorms as a means to changing culture.
Once could argue that it is a good thing that old rebel spaces are closed as those places have a tendency go stale and turn into a cargo cult shadow of itself the more it's legacy is celebrated. The world don't need more safe-spaces where a bunch of well of kids can pretend they are changing the world, without having to deal with the fact that the movement's they pay homage to have been pacified and subverted since a…
From your comment, you appear to have no personal experience with Senior House. Your comment thus comes across as incredibly misinformed and naive. Senior House was not a place where people pretend they are changing the world as the article made emphatically clear. Many of the world's greatest technologists were taught and inspired at Senior House to pursue their life's work. This has absolutely nothing to do with Hi…
It's not about Trump vs Clinton it's about yesterdays failed rebels failing to let at new generation emerge as it's own thing and that's universal for both parties, and not even confined to just America. Whatever senior house was 10 years ago it cannot be 10 years from now because the world aren’t static so maybe it had to go to give way for something new the alumni have no right or reason to expect to be a part of.
We are turning into a society of loud senior citizens and subdued youths because of the reverence today’s youth are told to have for the communities that were created by past generations despite those communities failure to tackle that many big problems head on and that’s a dangerous thing to have because it cannot lead to anything but cultural stagnation.
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That argument makes sense as they mailed the kids parents; when universities are all about recognizing the students as adults.
Isn't America the place where in some states it is a criminal offence for 21 year olds who serve in the military to consume alcohol?
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What happened to the MIT Administration? Ever since Aaron Swartz death, it seems the administration of the school has been corrupted by some influence. My guess is that, like so many universities in this country, the administration is not answerable to students or even alumni.
The legal doctrine under which the MIT administration feels pruessure to do these things is called In Loco Parentis and its incarnation at MIT is particularly influenced by the death of Scott Krueger[1]. MIT has to at least appear[2] to be taking issues of student safety and the use of intoxicating substances seriously. [1] http://news.mit.edu/1998/da-0923 [2] In the aftermath of a GHB overdose incident at Senior Hou…
I don't know what agreements are in place, if any, for younger students.
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The legal doctrine under which the MIT administration feels pruessure to do these things is called In Loco Parentis and its incarnation at MIT is particularly influenced by the death of Scott Krueger[1]. MIT has to at least appear[2] to be taking issues of student safety and the use of intoxicating substances seriously. [1] http://news.mit.edu/1998/da-0923 [2] In the aftermath of a GHB overdose incident at Senior Hou…
MIT doesn't have to act in loco parentis for anyone over the age of majority (18). Anyone over 18 is an adult, and making their own choices. This happens to be the baseline age for most college entrants. I don't know what agreements are in place, if any, for younger students.
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From your comment, you appear to have no personal experience with Senior House. Your comment thus comes across as incredibly misinformed and naive. Senior House was not a place where people pretend they are changing the world as the article made emphatically clear. Many of the world's greatest technologists were taught and inspired at Senior House to pursue their life's work. This has absolutely nothing to do with Hi…
But the greater narrative pushed by wired have pretty much everything to with the great battle for the future of America’s history. It's not about Trump vs Clinton it's about yesterdays failed rebels failing to let at new generation emerge as it's own thing and that's universal for both parties, and not even confined to just America. Whatever senior house was 10 years ago it cannot be 10 years from now because the wo…
Do you see how you're still trying to force a narrative that has nothing to do with the reality of the situation?
If we have to force a political analogy, a better example would be if veterans and current military personnel banded together to prevent closing an important base that had produced tons of great ideas, high ranking generals, etc. because the Trump administration decided there was too much risky homosexual activity and partying going on.
As an aside, your blanket classification of MIT alums as "yesterdays failed rebels" is comically inaccurate. Lawrence Summers lived in this dorm for crying out loud.
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I was chatting with a guy on the plane the other day who was bemoaning the disappearance of old-school BBSes and rise of homogeneous social media sites. I think my answer to his concern and yours are the same: There are still places for clever weirdos. Particularly online. I know of at least two hacking communities, for instance, which only let in people who can hack the invite process. At that point, you can assume…
What online communities are you talking about?
As college morphs into High School+, and society extends their definition of 'childhood' to cover up to age 25, steps will be taken to destroy the autonomy and personality of these 'children.' Children are entitled no rights, no difference of opinion from them is respected, and any degree of control over them, no matter how extreme, is always seen as warranted.
People really do need to get some perspective on real problems. The safe spaces and coloring books for students after Trump got elected was pathetic. 18 year olds stormed Normandy, now they are crying over the democratic process. I say this as a college student myself. People will always find a reason to be miserable, so now that almost every major issue has been taken care of we have increasingly small things being…
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> How many opportunities are there today for someone with a 2.65 GPA? Just as many as there used to be, it's just never been easy. Actually I thought about it some more, and there are actually probably more opportunities today than before with the internet and the democratization of knowledge. > Woz and Jobs started out in business selling blue boxes to illegal bookmakers. > Imagine a world in which they had been sub…
Steve Jobs had an acquaintance in college named John Draper (aka "Captain Crunch" in the hacking world) who if I remember right taught Jobs said blue box skills. He possibly represents the endpoint which the OP fears. I've met him at a couple of raves back in the 1990s back when he was basically wandering around the rave scene. My impression: brilliant guy, but incredibly eccentric. I don't know much more about him b…