Local colleges are rushing to build high-tech classrooms and plush dormitories for a new breed of students who grew up with the Internet and were pampered by parents. Xavier University is planning a new campus quadrangle with high-tech classrooms and a ritzy residence hall to oblige what school officials call the "Baby on Board" generation or the "Millennials" coming of age at the turn of the millennium."Their parents posted 'Baby on Board' signs in their cars. They have been protected as children. Their free time was replaced by organized activities and structured programs. They have a high need for achievement and attention," said Xavier spokeswoman Kelly Leon. She said this generation prefers learning from hands-on experience, craves technology-generated education, and feels comfortable working in teams.
"Millennial students do not learn in the traditional ways of 50, 30 or even 10 years ago," said Xavier President Michael Graham. "We need to adapt our campus to their needs and changing times."
"Feels comfortable working in teams", eh? I'm going to have be pretty impressed by their subsequent adult accomplishments to be convinced that this is not just another way of saying that these Millennials are incapable of (a) cracking open real books and (b) pursuing solitary research without having their hands held.
[NKU President James Votruba says] "Today's youngsters have lived with high-technology from video arcades to cell phones, and many have their own computers. At home, most have not shared a bedroom and many have not shared a bathroom. When they come to college, they expect the same creature comforts. That puts pressure on all colleges because there is competition for these students."
Guess what? I hadn't ever shared a bathroom or a bedroom when I went to college, nor had I ever lived without central AC. Did that stop USC from putting me, an Honors College student, into an all-female dorm with hall bathrooms and no AC whatsoever? No, it did not. Did USC assume that I would do the work I was capable of with or without these creature comforts, and that some point I would have to learn to deal with a little adversity anyway? Yes, yes they did. Would I have been laughed out of housing had I gone to them and demanded more upscale surroundings for my spoiled little freshman self? Yes, I would have - and rightfully so. I wasn't there to be pampered.
I thought we were sending kids to college these days so that they could broaden their horizons, and learn something about the outside world, and be in a multicultural environment where they learn how other people think and act and live. But now colleges are spending like crazy to give every incoming freshman a upper-middle-class 90210 environment? What the heck is that?
Some universities have the money to turn every dorm into a miniature Trump Tower, and if the alumni are fine with it, more power to them. There's also nothing wrong with updating the technology for the classroom, especially if the subject matter demands it. But universities should be asking themselves if they want the kinds of students who choose their institution of higher learning based on whether or not they might have to share a bathroom - or a DSL line - for a year or two.
A note to all those Millennials who demand the same private bathrooms and vegetarian meals that they got at home: College dorms are supposed to be yucky for the same reason that your parents aren't supposed to wait on you hand and foot when you're a teen - it's so that you eventually want to grow up and move out and take care of your own precious self. College is something you leave for something better. And unlike at home, you won't get to hang around for years for free if you get hooked on those comfy dorm rooms.
I can't prove that it's the colleges with mystery meat in the dining hall and plenty of scunge in the hall bathrooms that have the highest percentage of students graduating in four years or less, but I have my suspicions.
Posted by kswygert at April 25, 2005 07:40 PM