Are college kids less fun these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t imagine Greek life would be fun for the majority of students. At least the Southern ones. The Greek life there is racist and rigid. Some sororities don’t allow men in their rooms and no alcohol. To dance and have a few beers you need to go to fraternities where you can’t always trust what you’re drinking.

We had fun way back with a combination of drinking and partying, going to concerts, hanging out with our friends, activities. No Greek at my school luckily.

I also think some kids are turned off by the hunger games aspects of rush.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like parents equate fun with drinking and partying. My dd is having a much better time in college than I did, but she spends way more time doing schoolwork and way less time drunk.

Mine doesn’t drink but he’s with friends all the time. At the gym, pick up sports. They play poker. He’s on a club sports team. They have fun.

Glad it’s not the black out drunk, drink 6 nights a week of my days.

[Anonymous]

My freshman DD is in a sorority and having lots of fun through that. But, I don’t think she has as much fun just hanging out with friends as I did. Her floor is not social at all and there’s no hang out area near her dorms for kids to be playing frisbee or whatever kids these days do.

[Anonymous]

The pandemic may have made our kids more intentional about social interaction (assuming they’re getting away from their phones now and then). My kid has spent more time than I did going out to eat with friends, attending events in a nearby city, and going to campus- sponsored events. It’s a little more time and money but it’s also time away from phones and screens?

[Anonymous]

Our son is working hard and playing hard in college. He constantly comments on how socially stunted many in his cohort are.

[Anonymous]

I went to a party school and honestly don't really want my kids to have as much "fun" as I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our son is working hard and playing hard in college. He constantly comments on how socially stunted many in his cohort are.

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Mine too. Out 2-3x a week (balance of bars, frat parties and clubs/events).

Great social work hard/play hard experience at Northwestern. But Greek life has a role and it’s growing there not shrinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a party school and honestly don't really want my kids to have as much "fun" as I did.

I want my kids to have fun, but they better graduate in 4 years and should go to a school that encourages an academic focus and on time graduation. I went to a good school but looking back, a lot of my friends had fluffy majors and spent 5+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a party school and honestly don't really want my kids to have as much "fun" as I did.

Same. I think binging alcohol was such the norm and everyone was still doing it in 20s, 30s and beyond. I live near a bar district and these way past college men and women are still day drinking all weekend and passing out in lawns.

[Anonymous]

Hazing and Greek life is getting worse,

Sent my kids to a school with very little-to none. They aren’t into that weird bullsh@t anyways. Letting someone out another guy’s @ss in your face or bother homoerotic stuff and be made to eat barf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like parents equate fun with drinking and partying. My dd is having a much better time in college than I did, but she spends way more time doing schoolwork and way less time drunk.

Yeah, I went to a school known for being fun, but I was pretty miserable and drinking way too much to pretend like I was having fun.

This. What a waste of money to spend 4 years getting drunk and worrying about the social ladder. Oh , and developing a more expensive taste in clothing than was good for me. (Bucknell)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of parents think a college seems fun, but their kid says it's too social or Greek. Did you have more fun in college than your kid is?

I've never heard someone say it's "too social". "Too Greek is a common complaint, because Greek is a very specific, demanding culture.

[Anonymous]

What is defined by “fun”? Current college age kids drink way less than those of a generation ago. In some ways maybe they are antisocial and all staring at phones, but in some ways their “fun” is different than the “fun” defined by others.

Also, first semester is a miserable adjustment for many students and then momentum and happiness builds as they find their tribe. Most of the fun follows from that

[Anonymous]

I had a lot of fun at a college that was not very fun and with a hard major. Loved my friends and had a great time. DC is at a SEC school and having lots of fun. In Greek life, loving fall footfall and everything else. Honestly, I think DC needs to have a little less fun.

[Anonymous]

Yes for sure. It was so much easier to get into college in the 80's and way less parent supervision. Kids entered college with way more social/partying experience than many of the kids entering now who have to spend so much time studying and converse through texting instead of in person or on the phone.