Bad ideas gone badder


A new, controversial dormitory option known as gender-neutral housing is gaining support at some colleges in California and across the nation. In the 1970s, many U.S. colleges moved from having only single-sex dormitories to providing coed residence halls, with male and female students typically housed on alternating floors or wings. Then came coed hallways and bathrooms. Now, some colleges allow undergraduates of opposite sexes to share a room. About 50 U.S. schools offer this housing choice, according to Jeffrey Chang, who co-founded the National Student Genderblind Campaign in 2006 to encourage gender-mixed rooms. Participating schools include UC Riverside, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Cornell, Dartmouth, Sarah Lawrence, Haverford, Wesleyan, Pitzer College and the University of Michigan. Chang estimates that at schools where the option exists, only 1 to 3 percent of students living on campus choose a roommate of the opposite sex. [Source: Los Angeles Times, March 15]

Does anybody really think this is a good idea? Where is the leadership these days? This is a bad idea and another reason why the educational system needs a major overhaul.

A culture handles deviant behavior in one of two ways. It punishes it or it normalizes it. Once again those who are in charge of some of most prestigious colleges have defined deviancy up and normalize the deviant. Ideas have consequences and the young people who go to these colleges will be affected by these decisions.



Dave Wager
davewager.com

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