A University of Substance

This past weekend J, almost age 18, attended a football recruiting weekend at a "prestigious" (read: expensive) university.

It's a college that seems to be very good at "talking the talk" but not "walking the walk." Even the football weekend came up short with regards to planning and the delivery of a quality experience.


A mother notices these things.

1. The recruits were placed with current football players for the night. There were no formal activities planned during the evening hours so the guys were free to go find something to do on campus. Our son's group "found" that sitting around in dorms, by groups of ten or so, was all there was to do. Most of the buildings on campus were closed/locked. What about a visiting speaker? A concert? A movie, perhaps?

Since there were no sleeping arrangents made for him, my son was given a dorm lobby couch to sleep on. For better or worse, he helped "steal" this couch from a lounge (it had been bolted down), and haul it to a locked room.

2. The student newspaper featured a weekly sex column. This week's advice to students was "how to have a threesome - two guys with one girl." Nice.

The writing in the newpaper wasn't worth the cost of the paper it was printed on. The stories throughout were shallow and uninteresting, eg."Student Gives Up Sex With His Iphone." This article appeared next to another, lamenting the $60,000 per year price tag to attend this university.

3. We were "treated" to a breakfast of powdered eggs, heated "frozen" french toast, and some juices in plastic bottles. Even for a banquet room full of football players, no fresh milk was offered. The large hall, inside the university's "exclusive club" had no artwork on the walls. It was dull and dirty.

4. When I observe students walking around this campus they look scared. Lifeless. Unhealthy even. Their conversations "feature" topics like chicken wings, uhms, sleeping, uhms, and parties. They dress in sweatpants and boots, with hats pulled over dirty, uncombed hair.

I've seen a better place, a university of tradition and substance. The student newspaper there featured stories about world events, on-campus speakers, and awards won by faculty members. The halls (and the bathrooms) there were clean. Students appeared friendly and engaged.

I suppose it's easy to judge. Here's hoping our student does NOT choose the expensive "low calorie" education.