Dorm life. Whether you love it or hate it, avoid or envy it, you likely don’t imagine it being very different from what it already is. Los Angeles Times staff writer Conor Friedersdorf proposes an interesting transformation of college dormitories in this July 2017 column.
Read it here: Friedersdorf, "Ban elite college dorms”
- Friedersdorf admits to having enjoyed very much living in a dorm among his classmates and peers when he was a college student at an elite school, but now he is proposing replacing the system. What does he propose to replace it with? Why? Summarize his argument. Does his proposal have merit? Why or why not?
- In his conclusion, Friedersdorf uses an invented term, “E Pluribus Dorm,” and there is some humor in the term if you recognize the phrase that it plays off and what that phrase means. If you don’t already know, do a little investigating. What is the original phrase that “E Pluribus Dorm” plays with? Where can the original phrase be found? (Hint: you may have a copy or two in your pocket.) What does the original mean? What does Friedersdorf’s phrase mean?
- Instead of citing a specific source for his They Say, Friedersdorf simply provides his own explanation of how dorms at elite schools operate, and rather than argue that the dorm system is bad or wrong, he states that the “approach has some validity.” Read (or re-read) Chapter 4 of your text. Which of the templates in that chapter comes closest to Friedersdorf’s statement? Why do you think so? Explain your reasoning.
- You’re a college student—how attractive would Friedersdorf’s proposal be to you? Why? Write an essay in which you imagine that such a living arrangement were available to you at a reasonable price. Under what conditions would you consider moving in? What might you expect to gain or learn from the experience? Why?
They Say I Blog 
I have my agreements and disagreements about this interesting idea. I too was a college student living in a dorm and I did not associate my fellow living mates with what they were there to learn. If some of my roommates were from other schools or were learning completely different trades, I think the housing would be perfectly acceptable. My part of disagreement would land in the field of segregation. With the way of the world, it is possible that more feuds would arise as so many differences in people are brought to light. As much as I myself would prefer a world of diversity and understanding, I feel that we are not ready for such a radical redefining of dorm life especially for people who are just starting their journey into the world as young adults and may have no understanding yet. E Pluribus Dorm is clever and possibly the future but I don’t think the college students of elite or other are ready.
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1) Friederdorf talks about his time living in a dorm and how he enjoyed it but he claims that we should tweak or abandon the current on campus housing situation. He believes that it would benefit the students if they were exposed to students that come from different backgrounds or socioeconomic status. He claims that if these students are going to be future leaders then they need to share experiences with all kinds of students and not just students that share the same background and upbringing. I think this proposal has merit but would be hard to implement because there are many students who wouldn’t be able to afford off campus housing and if they tried to implement this into the current dorm system they would find it hard because most of the people attending the elite schools share a similar upbringing.
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As a first year college student, I really like this idea. I am attending a community college, and I love the idea of a dorm, but also hate it. Not everyone has the opportunity to live in a dorm, or they cannot afford it like myself. If we combined college dorms, and integrated them with all kinds of people, there would be a lot more room for learning. Mostly all people that I went to high school with went to a university and live in the dorms on campus. By choosing to go to community college, I feel so lucky to have met all kinds of unique people from so many different backgrounds. I would love for people I knew it high school to be exposed to people other than the ones who attend universities like themselves.
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I believe that campus housing is a great resource if you learn/study outside of the class room when surrounded with like minded individuals. BUT when living in a basic student housing building with many different people sometimes it is hard to stay focused. I personally don’t like being around other and living in a dorm wouldn’t change that, I most likely wouldn’t even talk to my roommate unless I had to. So in short- I think the basic dorm housing is un nessicary but the housing at the larger schools that have the option of being in a “math major only” dorm etc is very helpful.
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I just finished reading this blog about how kids learn in kindergarten, and how it is different from how the leaned 20 years ago. they say the teacher teach on a first grade level. which can be a good thing or a bad thing. personally i think if the child can handle the work then its no problem. but they should defiantly have a program for kids that need help.
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I agree that colleges should update their dorms because this is going to be the house of the student for the next 2 to 4 years. But I disagree about the separation of the students who are more gifted than others because I believe that in order to learn new things you have to be surrounded by new environments and how can you learn new things if you’re surrounded by people who are only as gifted as you are. And it can also help more because what if one person is good at math and their friend is good at English. They can help each other out when they need it, and also it doesn’t make one of the people less gifted than the other.
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I would enjoy living in a dorm because that means meeting new people from different backgrounds and when you meet new people you learn new things. I do support the argument to group people up with roommates from different backgrounds because that could be a journey of new friendship especially since you’ll see each other everyday and live with one another. I honestly can’t wait to transfer into a university and decorate a door, create bonds with new people. Im a very outgoing person so that kind of explains why I agree with the Friederdorf about exposing student to different kinds of students that possibly share the same interests.
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I would have to agree with replacing the dorms. Not because there is anything wrong with it but simply because i am a very private person. It is quite odd sharing with a stranger whom you know anything about. Although some people become very close with their dorm mates it isn’t always the case. I don’t necessarily agree that the idea of dorms should be separated among groups of different people. Anyone of any educational or racial background could turn out to one day be the best of friends. I do think that maybe the dorms should be altered but for many other reasons.
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As a first year college student, at a community college, I love the idea of dorms. Living in a dorm gives you amazing opportunities to meet new people and experience more generations like living with someone in your future. Sure your first year living with someone might not turn out all you might hope for but it teaches you great values and helps you find new likes and dislikes. Or on the other hand it turns out something great and exciting and you meet new friends along the way. I don’t necessarily agree that dorms such be separated based along different people. Dorms might not exactly be what everyone hopes for, but there is always a place to start.
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I go to community college at the moment and I completely agree with the idea of dorms. I think it’s necessary for all freshman to have the experience of being around other people that are studying too and are working for their future careers. In the other hand I also believe that the students who are persuing the same career should live together, that way they can work together and have a better understanding of what it is they need to be learning and be on top of it. For some students it might be easy to live on their own but for others it may not because they’ve been pampered their whole lives. If it’s like that, this would also be a great opertunity for those with no experience of leaving home learn to be on their own and have a taste of the real world.
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I feel the idea of dorms is completely nessasary for hard working college students. It exposes you to many different situations you might have not ever experienced till this point in your life. It also exposed you to all kinds of different people. It is a whole learning experience and it allows you to get a taste of independence.
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As a current college student, I can agree and disagree with this idea. I’m enrolled in a university college, and I hate my current situation with dorms. I feel like if we combined dorms it would be better for meeting new people, networking and getting help with subjects you aren’t too sure on. Then I think about living in a place that you don’t know anybody besides the people that you meet. This can make you uncomfortable. In today’s world you are never too sure of who to trust, I can deal with having a common area that college kids meet up at but I wouldn’t like that there is a chance of getting roomed with somebody you have no connection with whether it is similarities in major or religion. You still should have some sort of connection with the person you live with, at least it would make me feel better.
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@Aquilah West
As a college professor of almost 20 years, 4 PhDs, and the benefactress of a world-renowned university dormitory, I have to disagree with your argument about discomfort in dormitory living. Once you graduate college, you will see that there will be many situations in which you are uncomfortable. Having read TSIS multiple times and leading many seminars on this particular article, your exact point has come up in a myriad of comments. Life after college requires the experience of interactions with many individuals of different backgrounds, interests, religions, etc. Last year, I took it upon myself to travel the world to about a dozen different universities and visited their dorms to see many differences. In Western Switzerland, I did notice that the students who exclusively roomed with those who attended their school, were more close-minded and had more social issues. To sum up my point, Aquilah, you will see that your college years the best years to experiment socially and learn to interact better with others.
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The phrase “E Pluribus Unum” is one of the United States’ mottos (it is often written on coins), and it means “out of many, one”. In that context, it refers to how a country rose up out of many states, but it also applies to the E Pluribus Dorm. It combines students of many different backgrounds, creating a whole out of what was previously divided. “E Pluribus Unum” encapsulates the purpose of the dorm: to bring together different students instead of separating them.
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I am a college student and I can agree with this idea because living in a school dorm is sometimes hard with students at my school. I agree that creating dorms with other colleges would benefit students because it would exposed them to a greater variety of backgrounds. At elite colleges, there are many smart students that are antisocial. If antisocial college students and other college students lived together it would help students learn from eachother and force them to interact. Each year, there is a larger gap between more and less educated adults because they do not interact with eachother often. I agree that students should the choice to live with college students from their own college or other colleges.
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As a college student, I don’t think this theory is very appealing. I’m not quite sure why anyone would want to stay in a dorm with other students from a different university. I feel that I would want to become more familiar with people in my community as opposed to another school’s community. It is more important to be involved with people in your own community for social reasons and educational reasons. In the social aspect, you can go to different social gatherings and have people to hang out with and in the educational aspect, you can work with each other going through the same problems to solve them.
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Friederdorf argues that it would beneficial for “elite” students to be exposed to those enrolled in community college despite their socioeconomic and collegian statuses. He states that in order to ensure a future that entails leadership and acceptance, it is imperative that colleges implement this theory of a E Pluribus Dorm into universities in order to expand experiences and ideologies outside of those that already share similar backgrounds and statuses. While I agree with the merit of this argument, I have to point out that implementing this would be controversial in that it could create a financial division, and that many students enrolled in elite schools would be unwilling or uncomfortable with this new notion. It is important to understand though, that being enrolled in a community college does not dictate that status of intelligence, as college choice has various factors besides that of just academic rigor. It could prove to be beneficial to mold similar ideas despite where the students are enrolled, because it expands the students’ abilities to connect and relate with differing backgrounds and educational statuses.
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Although I am a high school student who has not yet even visited a college, I grant that it would be a great idea to create “E Pluribus Dorm” for college students. I think that Friedersdorf’s idea is very valid and has merit because it provides an alternative to just offering elite dorms and crappy dorms. Friedersdorf makes the case that an “E Pluribus Dorm” would make a dorm that is free to any type of students whether they be from a community college, elite schools, or state schools. The purpose is to get a variety of students to be living in the same space, creating more diversity in schools. With this said, I do think that elite dorms should still be allowed for people with enough money and would like to utilize them.
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Aquilah, I completely agree with your viewpoints. There are definite advantages and disadvantages to this scenario. On the plus side, it would create an environment where meeting new people, some of which you would not usually interact with, would be easier. On the contrary, nowadays it is hard to trust people, so by placing students from different colleges and universities together, you have more likely chance of being in the same dorm with someone whose interests are very different to yours. The only way I feel this system could work was if students are paired together based on similar interests.
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As a current college student, I understand both the pros and cons to the ongoing debate as to whether or not an “E Plurbis Dorm” would be beneficial. In the minds of some, an “E Plurbis Dorm” would be very beneficial to both the students attending selective universities and students attending community colleges. Those same people argue that the socializing between both the selective university students and the community college students will result in greater empathy. Allowing the students to familiarize themselves with alternative methods prepares them better for future challenges. Not to mention, the interaction between both groups will allow students to develop advantageous social skills.
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I really like Friedersdorf’s proposal. I think that it would be a good idea to allow people from community colleges be in the dorms. I wouldn’t mind sharing my dorm with them. What I am getting form his article is that people from elite colleges can come off kind of snooty. There are people who deserve to go to a top school but simply cannot afford it. If I went to one of the top schools, I would not mind sharing a room with someone from a lower school or perhaps giving up my space. Not quite sure if I would give up my space, but I’m not totally against to the idea.
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. Friedersdorf proposal attracts me by the background information he provides within the article provides, because it shows me that he knows what he is talking about by adding the facts he uses. Some conditions that would make me consider moving in would have to be fun activities to do on campus some other things would be that it would make me get to my first class faster instead of driving 30 minutes from home and possibly being late, so I would say that living on campus would be convenient for people who don’t really live that close to campus. The experience I would gain from living on campus would have to be learning on how to live on my own away from my parents and learn how to do things on my own without them, so it improves my responsibility as freshman college student.
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As a current college student, I am very happy with my dorm situation and I believe it is because I am with people from all different walks of life. The interaction that we are able to receive with people who may be of a lower class than us. I think it’s important to understand that your way of life is not the only way and that there are others who live differently but just as well. It would be beneficial for the students to be exposed to people who are of a different standing because you get a whole new view on life, but they way that Friedersdorf proposes it does not make much sense. At an ivy league school you are there because you earned it and you dorm there because you earned it, asking others, who most likely chose community college because it was the cheapest option, to pay room and board at an elite school makes no sense. The students at this ivy league school wouldn’t go out and meet people from a lower class than they are on their own. So why this idea could potentially be beneficial to students and their growth, it doesn’t logically make much sense.
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As a college student, I can see pros and cons of this “E Pluribus Dorm” idea. It is great in the sense we all would gain massive exposure to different kinds of people, we could grow, find new interests, and possibly gain new opportunities by all socializing together rather than staying with the group we are comfortable in. We would view the world differently, gain social skills, and develop wider perspectives. A con of this is that there may be multiple instances where we as students, lack the ability to understand each other’s struggles and differences with school and society. Another con would be the tuition for room and board. Would we get discounts by participating in this living arrangement?
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Friedersdorf proposes to replace half of the dorm life with students from other places like community colleges or trade schools. I’m not really fond of this idea because that’s honestly going to take a lot of people to agree with him to actually make a change and I really don’t think that a lot of people would really agree. You can’t really force anyone to interact with each other and it would take a long time to filter out half of the population to bring in the people he wants to bring in. It doesn’t really make sense for a community college student or a tech school student to live on another college campus that is farther away from their actual school just to have a more diverse atmosphere. As a college student, I want to be able to live with students that are attending the same place as me, not that I’m being selfish by not want to open my eyes to different diversities, it’s just that I am able to relate better to people that are attending the same classes and maybe even professors like me.
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The idea of placing more elite, assuming wealthier students with more common students is a good idea in theory because this would allow for a more diverse and better insight to both classes and both realities. However, having to remove 50% of student would be a problem because where would that 50% live, what would happen to the money they paid for the dorms and so on? I would be fine with moving in to an elite dorm or having someone move into my dorm. Who knows, maybe we’re more alike than others would think.
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I disagree with this idea of E Pluribus Dorm just for the fact that it has a lot of technical issues that could not be fixed or would be tough to fix. I personally find this unfair to the students who actually need to live on the campus that cannot afford an apart, and most who go to a community college live in the area as it is so they don’t really need to live in a dorm that is designed for the students who actually go to that school.This idea is that of a fantasy just because of financial reasons, those who go to community college would be paying more to live at the dorm of the private college than they would be to live at their actual college. Plus it would be an inconvenience on their day to go from one school to the next.
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As a college student at a medium sized school, I am not exactly in favor of the idea. I don’t know how I feel about sharing a room with someone who doesn’t even attend the same school as me, its already a challenge sharing a room with someone from my school. Of course, I understand that for some people thats a great option because its so much cheaper, and I completely respect that. I feel as though it would be pointless because no one would want to branch out and meet new people which is almost the purpose of why this is a subject of dicussion. It is hard to connect with others when you don’t share something in common and you’re randomly placed in rooms with people from different schools.
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I am currently a college student who lives in the dorms on campus. I do not like Friedersdorf’s proposal at all. The idea of living with people from other universities does not appeal to me. I enjoy my college dorms very much and do not see any need to change that at all. My campus is closed and very safe which is why I like it so much and feel so safe here. If I was living with people from other universities, I would not feel very safe. I do not even know anyone on my floor in my dorm so I do not think that placing people from other universities would change anything except my feelings of being safe and secure. I would possibly consider moving into these dorms if it was cheaper than my dorms currently are. If I did end up moving in with students from other universities, I would expect to learn the same as what I have learned from living with students from my current college. I do not expect that I would learn anything new from living with other students. I enjoy living on campus dorms with students from the same college because this allows me to hang out with my roommates more and go to college events and activities. Also it is nice because we have some of the same classes and are able to help each other with our work.
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I think there is room for both agreement and disagreement with this article. I can see how combined housing would be good to integrate students and expand their learning horizons throughout college. The issue is, as a college student, the idea just isn’t practical. It’s nice to have a community around you that is studying at the same level that you are. Imagine being someone who is going to community college for a teaching degree and dorming with someone who is attending Harvard for law. This would make living situations beyond uncomfortable because no matter what, there are going to be feelings of invalidation that just wouldn’t mix well. I am currently an early childhood education major and I know that if I was in this situation, I would choose not to live on campus because it just wouldn’t seem like a reasonable or comfortable living situation to me. I wouldn’t want to be in my major of study at a university and be living with someone who is attending an Ivy League school for a major like law. It’d be good to learn and expand my social skills but living in an environment like that would just be uncomfortable and would make me feel like I couldn’t ever be on the same level as my roommate.
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I think this argument has some valid points. It is definitely an interesting idea. I think it would integrate different classes of people and ultimately help our communities. Logistically, it is not valid. It does not make sense to separate people who go to the same school and replace them with people who live across town and want to save money. Each college would have to kick out 50% of their students who are paying for their schooling at this particular college. Where would they go? Why would elite colleges want to separate their students who are working toward a common goal and with common environments? Most community college goers don’t dorm anyways, so as to save money. They would have to not only commute, but would also be paying high prices to live with people who don’t share common interests. On the other side, elite college students pay fortunes to live in dorms where they have opportunities to network or even just learn more from people who share common interests. I understand what his point is. He wants people to stop networking with only their social class, but it logistically, it is a mess. Neither community college students or elite college students would find this to be a perfect situation.
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The author has proposed an alternative to the dorms college students are currently living in to a system where a diverse group of people like community college, public or private universities can freely join the dorms. In my opinion, his proposal does not have much merit because people who do not go to attend the school where the dorms are at does not make sense. Also, I see the author’s point where people can be combined to be better leaders because you share common interests with each other could learn from each other.
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I can agree and disagree with this idea. As a college student living in a dorm, I don’t talk to many people on my floor or in my building. I only talk to my roommates. I feel like by adding students from other schools into my dorm will not change the fact that I don’t talk to people who live across or beside me. If the living expense were cheaper than what they are now, I would definitely move in. But, if they aren’t and the only reason to do this is to ave many people of different backgrounds to come together and talk and share life experiences, then I’m still not going to talk to people on my floor. I am too preoccupied with my studying to go out and talk with people. All I do is go to class for several hours, and study then sleep. I don’t really talk to others. It could be a great thing for some people, but for me, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.I do, however, like having many different diversities come together. As a Mexican American, I hardly see people with my same culture around campus. Let alone on my same floor. I am the only Hispanic in my room and I have yet to find one on my floor. The majority is white and I would like to see more diversity. So, I think that is a plus to this idea
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The original phrase that “E Pluribus Dorm” stems from the United States’ national motto: “E Pluribus Unum”, which translates to “out of many, one”. The national motto can be found on U.S. coined currency. In Friedersdorf’s commentary, the “dorm” can be viewed as all socioeconomic groups of the United States. By including the elite (tier 1 and 2 university students who live in dorms all four years, who would become the elite) into other groups of socioeconomic statuses, Friedersdorf argues that it would bind the elite to the lower class, and would bond all groups of the socioeconomic plane at Universities like Yale or Stanford. Two logistical problems stem from the fact that most people will not be able to travel that far (some come from poorer families and cannot afford a plane ticket just to go to school or do not have a car) and room and board and tuition is unrealistically high (roughly $60,000 for in/out-of-state students at Stanford). While it is a seemingly pleasant, Utopian idea, it will be hard to do so in the United States. Anyways, you don’t need to spend $60,000 a year to integrate yourself into a diverse community. Universities like San Diego State University already offer this.
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I would enjoy living in a dorm with students from another school, whether it be a more prestigious school than mine, or less. The mix of students would introduce different worldviews to me. I would learn more about different lifestyles and mindsets of other people. I would meet more people from different social and economic classes. In the real world, we are going to have to interact with people of all different classes, etc., so why not start now and get comfortable with coping with different lifestyles. If we spend our 4 years at college only with people who are similar to us, we won’t know how to adapt in the future when things are different and uncomfortable. I love meeting new people and experiencing a diverse mix of lifestyles and people, so I would support this kind of movement, though I don’t think it should be required because it sounds like a lot of people don’t like it.
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After reading about integrating students into an elite campus, I thought of a few things that would be important to address before making a final decision. As a college student myself, I think it is very important for students to be surrounded by other individuals who have a similar mindset and passion for learning and education. Coming from somebody who actually lives in a dorm, I can strongly say that I would not be appreciative of someone replacing my living situation especially if I was paying a substantial amount. I do, however understand how incorporating such a different way of education could be helpful to a larger audience. I think that the diversity is great, especially because a lot of students at an elite school weren’t raised in low class and even middle class homes, so for them to see how different the world really is could be a huge lesson. I definitely see both sides of the claim, however, judging based off of how I think out society would respond, I do not think it is a smart idea to integrate other students into an elite campus.
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Friedersdorf’s proposal is not at all attractive to me. I disagree with his argument because as a current college student I would like to be living with people who are some what similar with me. Living with people who are not would most likely cause issues and having issues with your roommates would be horrible as you will be living with them the whole year. Some conditions that would make me consider moving in is a cheap price, some space so that if arguments do happen we can have a place to get away, and knowing that there is a roommate conflict agreement, that way me and my roommates will be able to talk it out at least. Something I expect to gain or learn from this would be learning to deal with other people who do not have the same view as me, learning to see others point of view, and being able to handle a complicated and uncomfortable situation.
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As a college student that knows the stress of applying and getting into schools, this proposal is not attractive to me at all. I believe it would be defeat the purpose of a university by having students from other types of schools living on campus. To me, that would make me wonder why I worked so hard to get into the school when I could have gone to community college and still lived on that campus. It gives underachieving students the opportunity to experience the “university life,” which takes away the purpose of the rewarding feeling for students that worked extremely hard to get into the school. Going to college already exposes you to people of different backgrounds as it is, it’s not like you could only get that from bringing in community college students. Only conditions I would consider with moving in is if the price is ideal in my current situation. I could benefit on meeting students that are studying the same field as me. Even then, we would not have the same assignments to help each other out and pitch ideas, so I do not think it would help me learn. If anything this would just give me someone to relate to and ask broader questions about the subject of study.
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Friedersdorf proposes to replace about a half of the residents with students from community colleges and vocational colleges in order to create a more diverse community for the residential areas within the campus. He believes that this will give our future leaders an understanding of what it would be like to be around and to get to know other people that did not have the same type of upbringing as them. As a university student living in a college dorm, I personally think that this idea is very time consuming to not only the students but the whole university, itself. In addition, the idea of having a much more diverse community can still be implemented without having to go beyond a mile of moving a number of students out and replacing them with others.
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I am first year college student and Friedersdof’s proposal does not sound very appealing to me. If I were to consider moving in to a situation like that, it would have to be a very reasonable price, and I would need to have my own space. If I’m going to live with so many people that may not have anything in common with me, I would need to have a place where I could “get away” if needed. Even though I do not find this situation very appealing, if I were in a situation like this, I would definitely learn something. I would learn how to understand and get along with others, and also how to constantly be around people who may not have anything in common with me. If everyone in the dorm goes to the same school, I would know that I have at least one thing in common with them. However, it would be very difficult to live with people who may be completely different from me.
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As a university student, I don’t find Friedersdorf’s idea very attractive at all. I really enjoy the way the dorms are set up at my university. I think it is important to build community with people who are similar in age and are on a journey that is similar to yours. I also think it is important to build community with people from your own school, before building community with people from other schools. I think mixing dorms of separate schools is just a wacky idea that would mess with the structure of universities across America. If you really want to hang out with people from other schools, you can do that by going to different social events outside of school that allow you to make those connections. I would only consider moving into an “E Pluribus dorm” if it was way cheaper than a normal dorm, because I wouldn’t expect to gain or learn much from that experience. I simply find Friedersdorf’s idea of mixing dorms unnecessary.
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Friedersdorf’s proposal is not very appealing to me. Coming to college I feel that people that want to be on campus should be on campus. I agree that merging different people together would benefit people socially, and I would not mind sharing my room with other people. The price of this living arrangement would appeal to the people that may not have been able to live on campus, and this would be their opportunity. As far as the living arrangement for the fifty percent of people that have to go off campus, as GCU we spend a large amount of time and money going into the security and safety of our students on campus, so putting them of campus could end up putting them in danger.
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As a current college student living in a University dorm I can see there is such a diversity in the students. I have personally met people from all over the world, from different backgrounds that have came together.
I can see why some people long for a diverse atmosphere. I may consider moving into a dorm like this my sophomore year or junior year of college when I have accustomed myself to the college atmosphere since there could potentially be a lot to gain from this experience. Rather than them being dorms, it would be better for them to be apartment complexes where people are able to get privacy, but be social if they choose to. Since college is all about growing and figuring out who you are it seems like a great idea to surround yourself with different people.
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Freidersdorf talked about his dorm experience and said how he was uncomfortable with it because it seemed too plain. His proposal of the E Plurbis Dorm would integrate diversity in dorms and make the students at elite know more about how people from lower level schools. By bringing in students from community colleges and technical institutes, students at the elite school could feel as if they are being treated unequally because they are paying a hefty amount of money to stay in these dorms, while the others students wouldn’t. Also, it would be an inconvenience for the new students to commute everyday to their school, so it would defeat the purpose of mixing these students if the new students are mostly at their own school.
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I understand why Friedersdorf is purposing this concept, though I do not agree with it. It sounds like a nice idea but in reality it is a lot to expect of all of these students from different colleges to live together. I think that this would create more problems than what it would solve. The overall atmosphere of the college would suffer and it would become very cliquey.
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I attend a university and currently live on campus. It has been really great being surrounded by people from my specific school, because you can go to games together, study for the same classes together, and do activities the school provides together. By combining housing, I would be surrounded by a lot of people who don’t go to my school. I feel like I would have less people to do stuff at my school with. Having other friends is a great thing, but I feel like living on campus is the best way to make friends at your school and build relationships. By combining housing, the sense of community becomes something different. Also, rivalry between schools is very healthy and good-natured, but when you put a bunch of spirited college students together, it could turn into something that may not be very friendly. For example, living so close to other people from rival schools could result in prank wars that could be taken too far. This is all theoretical, but it isn’t that far-fetched.
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I agree that living in a dorm is a great idea to learn and study outside of the class room while also being surrounded by people with the same major and mind set as you. But it may be hard to stay focused surrounded by people with different mind sets than yours. I live in a Ling Learning Community which means most of the girls on my floor are nursing majors. We all have the same classes and same things to study for. It makes it easy to find a study partner and I really enjoy it. I do not think that living in a dorm is a necessity but I do think it is a major part of “college life” and everyone should experience it in their life.
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The author is proposing to replace the currently exclusive dorms with dorms that incorporate people from various colleges and walks of life. I think this is an excellent proposal because it will allow all of the people living there to experience other perspectives, life styles, and beliefs. Especially in regards to students of elite schools who plan to become future leaders, it would be helpful for them to get to know all of the different types of people that they would be leading.
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Friederdorfʻs proposal would not be attractive at all. Living with people with a complete different person with different backgound from you would be cool for a weekend but no for a whole year. It would just be added stress to worry about, weather somethings you do might offend them or they might offend you. I just would not want to be on my toes all yeah long. I would consider moving in if we have different rooms. Right now I am paying over $8,000 to live with 3 other people who I do not agree and have the same lifestyle as. I am constantly mad, upset or just bothered about the way they do things that interrupt my schedule.
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The original E Pluribus Dorm phrase originally goes with the motto of the United States which is “out of many, one.” The original phrase can be found on coins such as quarters. You can look at Friedersdorf’s phrase as he wants everyone to become one. To do this in college and on a college campus, the way to become one is through dorms. In some cases this can be true and roommates can become the best of friends, but most cases this is not true. I think Friedersdorf needs to keep both sides in mind when developing this idea.
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