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Chicago Tribune April 6, 2008 sec. 1 p. 6:
Over the last few decades, single gender dorms have become hard to find on a college campus. Many moved to coed floors, coed suites, and coed bathrooms. Now a number of schools have instituted coed rooms. Approximately 30 campuses now have rooms that are officially shared by male and female roommates. Schools who have made the switch say that gender-blind dorm rooms are more inclusive and acknowledge modern realities. Most of the schools discourage romantically involved students from rooming together, but maintain that such choices are up to the students. Critics say coed rooms are one more indicator of the eroding morals on the college campus.
So do I.
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” -Abraham Lincoln
© 2008, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.
“America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.” –Evan Esar, American Humorist (1899 – 1995)
AP March 11, 2008.
25% of Young Women Infected: Shocking results from a recent study by the Center for Disease Control show that one out of every four girls ages 14-19 has an STD. That translates into approximately 3 million infected girls – about 40% of all girls who admit to having had sex. The HPV virus was the most common infection.
And you thought pregnancy was the worst thing that could happen with casual sex. Folks, HPV is incurable and is a primary cause of uterine cancer.
From the Campus Ministry Update February 2008 by The Ivy Jungle:
Endowed Bathroom: A venture capitalist has given $25,000 to the University of Colorado to endow a bathroom. The lavatory in the business school will have a sign outside it featuring the inspiring quote: “The best ideas often come at inconvenient times. Don’t ever close your mind to them.” (Inside Higher Ed January 29, 2008)
From the “Campus Ministry Update 2008″ published by the Ivy Jungle:
Religious People Give More: Religious Americans give more money and time to charitable causes than their non-religious neighbors. A new book by Arthur Brooks, Who Really Cares, analyzed ten data sets, concluding that religiosity is one of the best predictors of charitable giving. Religious citizens give 3.5 times more money, volunteer with organizations twice as often, are 57% more likely to help the homeless, and 66% more likely to donate blood than those who are not religious. The findings also paint an unexpected political picture as those who are more religious also tend to be more conservative in social and political issues. In fact, of the 25 states with above average charitable giving, 24 voted for George Bush in the last election. In Arkansas, citizens donate an average of 3.9% of their income, while in Massachusetts it is only 1.8%. Good news for religion, however, among religious people, the data showed nothing distinctive about those who consider themselves evangelicals. (Books and Culture January/February 2008 p. 11)
I was dismayed to read that a school board in Maine decided to make “the pill” available to middle school students (10 year olds) without parental consent or knowledge.1 In several of the “pro” interviews, the first thing the interviewee would say was, “First of all, abstinence education hasn’t worked.”Let’s get real. Of course abstinence education doesn’t work if you don’t use it. Condoms don’t work if you don’t use them. “The pill” doesn’t work if you don’t use it. So saying that abstinence doesn’t work is a specious argument.Here’s a little list of the effectiveness of abstinence, condoms, and the pill:Effectiveness against pregnancy if used:
Effectiveness against STDs if used:
Effectiveness against pregnancy and STDs if not used:
By the way. The article regarding giving children the pill was on the same page as an article explaining why folks are lobbying the FDA to not allow children to have cold medicine. Cold medicine: no; the pill: yes. Ironic, isn’t it?2
© 2007 – 2008, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.
Beloit Freshman List: Beloit College has published its annual list about this year’s freshman class. Here are some of the highlights regarding the class of 2011, born in 1989:
Read the rest of this entry »
© 2007 – 2009, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.
As summarized in the Ivy Jungle newsletter, CNN reports an alarming trend:
Prescription drugs and “pharma parties” have become increasingly popular among teenager and college students. The National Center on Alcohol and Substance Abuse reports that the proportion of college students abusing opiods (i.e Vicodin, etc.) has increased 343% between 1993 and 2005. Tranquilizers (Xanax, Vallium, etc.) went up by 450% and abuse of stimulants like Adderall (an ADD medication) has increased by 93%. These drugs are easy to find in many home medicine cabinets. A CASA study in Minnesota and Wisconsin showed that almost a third of teenagers taking medication for ADHD had been approached to sell or trade their drugs. (cnn.com July 5, 2007)
Not only is this an alarming trend, it’s extremely dangerous behavior. Although marijuana can impede long term emotional development with chronic use, overdoses rarely result in death. Nor is marijuana as physically addictive some of these other drugs. Not that I advocate the use of marijuana.
“Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.”
Here’s an article from Campus Ministry Update June 2007 published by Ivy Jungle:
“Porn Driven, Look-at-Me” Culture: The evidence of the mainstreaming of pornography is not hard to find in our culture today – from the provocative videos on YouTube to Myspace pages for adult film stars. Some researchers and observers continue to express concern over the impact on young people – particularly girls. “Sexiness” has become very important to girls, with an increasing push into raunchiness. High school counselors find themselves consoling teenage girls who have undressed and more in front of web cams. Employers are increasingly implementing dress codes. The American Psychological Association recently published a paper on the sexualization of girls. One great concern is that while boys tend to use pornography and other aspects of sex for their own pleasure; most girls who exhibit provocative behavior are doing so for the pleasure of someone else – often someone they don’t know well (or perhaps not at all thanks to the internet). Some women claim they have more power with their sexuality, but many researchers are seeing a very negative impact – especially among teenage girls. (AP June 4, 2007)
Here’s a semi-related photo I received via email some time ago:
Heat Lightning (Virgil Flowers, No. 2) by John Sandford
Reliquary (Pendergast, Book 2) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
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