In Loco Parentis

[Tufsoles]

I think its a great Idea to a point but I think ( remeber this is coming from a coed) the students themselves to to sit down with themselves and think about thier boundaries and make sure they are staight before they enter college or the adult world.

[ardillacid]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1250018' date='Apr 20 2007, 04:28 AM']I believe in the restoration of the old principal In Loco Parentis when it comes to Colleges and Universities. Our college systems have become destructive lifestyles in and of themselves.

I've seen an old schedule from St. Vincent College (the college I attend) from about a hundred years ago. A couple points I remember about it:

There were room checks insisting upon cleanliness.
There were bed times/curfews.
There were laundry times.
No one was allowed in their [i]dormitory[/i] except at nighttime.
Not to mention dormitories were male only (back then this particular college was all male only)
There were strict formal dress codes for class time.

I know it wouldn't be possible to restore all of these things all at once or anything, but I have come to the opinion that this is the proper role of a college, in the place of the parent. College is not, nor should it be, a taste of the 'freedom' (read: licence) available in the real world. It should be a rigorous education-based institution which acts in the place of the parent and provides a strict and disciplined society wherein a student can grow.

College students nowadays have statistically higher levels of mental illness than the regular population, even compared to their same age grade. Imagine that: they're having sex, drinking, staying up to all hours of the night, living in close quarters, exposed to huge levels of stress, and given borderless licence to do all of these things. I believe a more structured society in college would decrease these insane amounts of mental illness and depression that happens.

And I know most will say "well they need experience with real life choices" et cetera. I don't buy that one bit. If we're keeping these people in carreer-limbo for the sake of education and preparation for carreer, we need to keep them in highly structured highly bordered social structures. You're having people leave family and not go to family, but go to the hornet's nest of peers with no structure. It's ridiculous. Students should not be political voices, student's should not have freedom of speech and licence of action; they are attending an institution and should be bound by strict rules to do so. It will help their education and mental wellbeing.

Of course, it's all so unrealistic, people at my college are up in arms because we have a Sonic Firewall fiddler which prohibits Pornography. God forbid that a Catholic institution not allow its tools to be used to kill the souls of its students and demolish their ability to ever have healthy relationships.

And I don't know that there's anyone left in the halls of Academia I would trust to really act in loco parentis to me... well, actually, our current President would probably make good policies if he was given the power and impetus.

I'm such a dreamer.[/quote]
I don't believe in communism.

[Lena]

I can't imagine my university doing that kind of thing (i go to a Big Ten school where it can get pretty crazy--especially after basketball games). I live off campus right now, but I really hated dorm life because of the lack of privacy! Alcohol wasn't allowed in my dorm though, even if you were 21.

A dress code for class though...? There goes my uniform of jeans and a hoodie!

[Guest T-Bone]

[quote name='notardillacid' post='1260449' date='Apr 30 2007, 01:32 AM']I don't believe in communism.[/quote]

That's not communism.