For fun: first impressions of colleges based on tours...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define "woke" especially on a college campus? Are you offended when people share their pronouns or by a t-shirt that supports the LGBTQ community or a "stop Asian violence and hate sign" or is it just black lives matter signs? Do the kids need to dress a certain way?

Did you read the post that started this discussion? The point was that it was clearly performative. It becomes annoying (if not necessarily offensive) when it becomes theater to show how “good” you are. It becomes offensive when it is used to stifle communication from people who have opinions, or even just characteristics, that don’t fit neatly within the current liberal orthodoxy (See, for example, the comment above about how people who mentioned this “clearly don’t want anyone who isn’t white attending college.”).

+1. I hate virtue signaling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DC was turned off by all the woke stuff and virtue signaling.

I'm curious, how would you and your DC feel about a campus that has Trump flags in the windows and students wearing MAGA hats?

College educated is not associated with Trump's demographic. What university is full of Trump flags and MAGA hats?

I can't say that I've witnessed it, but states where 80% of the population voted for Trump (like Alabama, West Va.) would probably have Trump flags and MAGA hats on the students. And while Trump does love "the poorly educated" voters, some of his voters surely do have college degrees. (sadly)

Poster that did the tour of Auburn last month here-

I didn't see a single confederate flag or Trump flag/hat. And we drove there from--get this!--West Virginia! Two days before we drove down, we attended the WVU/Iowa State football game--no Trump/Confederate stuff there either!
Also visited University of Alabama several months ago and did not see them.

Then you didn't drive in I-68 or I-64 or I-79 because they are on both sides of the highway throughout WVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define "woke" especially on a college campus? Are you offended when people share their pronouns or by a t-shirt that supports the LGBTQ community or a "stop Asian violence and hate sign" or is it just black lives matter signs? Do the kids need to dress a certain way?

Did you read the post that started this discussion? The point was that it was clearly performative. It becomes annoying (if not necessarily offensive) when it becomes theater to show how “good” you are. It becomes offensive when it is used to stifle communication from people who have opinions, or even just characteristics, that don’t fit neatly within the current liberal orthodoxy (See, for example, the comment above about how people who mentioned this “clearly don’t want anyone who isn’t white attending college.”).

What you are calling performative is what other people call 'supporting their friends and family'

You don't get it, and that is fine, but others do and it is their right. If you are such a snowflake that it bothers you, then you should look for environments that are more suited to your outlook and temperment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For my DC it isn’t even necessarily the campus itself that gave the lasting impression. It was the tour guide!

Vanderbilt: fake friendly and she said “funner” — seems dumb
Swarthmore: What is she wearing?! So weird. Ew.
Oberlin: If she mentions one more time she’s gay I’m going to leave the tour. We know, she’s gay.
Wm& Mary: they seem so nice and pretty normal, but kind of boring. Do they really think a cheese club is all that unusual?
Brown: He seems really nice and like he is really talking to us, not just memorizing. But he keeps basically saying he has no fun except laying on the floor of a building which is weird
Vassar: OMG, seriously, what is she wearing?

Oh, please. Like this is unusual. As someone else said, it’s the point of this thread. If your kid never said anything ridiculous about a school or made a snap judgement based on something dumb, they probably aren’t sharing all their thoughts with you. It’s part of growing up. Adults do it too. When we were looking at houses my husband was ready to cross some off because he didn’t like the paint inside.

Maybe community college would be a better fit. Another year of HS.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I added my answer in the wrong place.

I was addressing the person who recommended another year of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DC was turned off by all the woke stuff and virtue signaling.

I'm curious, how would you and your DC feel about a campus that has Trump flags in the windows and students wearing MAGA hats?

College educated is not associated with Trump's demographic. What university is full of Trump flags and MAGA hats?

I can't say that I've witnessed it, but states where 80% of the population voted for Trump (like Alabama, West Va.) would probably have Trump flags and MAGA hats on the students. And while Trump does love "the poorly educated" voters, some of his voters surely do have college degrees. (sadly)

Poster that did the tour of Auburn last month here-

I didn't see a single confederate flag or Trump flag/hat. And we drove there from--get this!--West Virginia! Two days before we drove down, we attended the WVU/Iowa State football game--no Trump/Confederate stuff there either!
Also visited University of Alabama several months ago and did not see them.

Then you didn't drive in I-68 or I-64 or I-79 because they are on both sides of the highway throughout WVA.

Yes I did and I didn't see any---but regardless, I dont think WVU's students are standing around on the side of the insterstate. The post I quoted said "hats on the students" not "in the state of West Virginia along major roads."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a tour of JMU with daughter. At very beginning of the tour, the guide shared her pronouns. We walked past a nice big 4 story science building where it seemed every other window had a BLM sign. It was interesting because as we came around the building we looked back on the opposite side and saw no signs. It was if the idea was to virtue signal the visitors on tour that day. And finally, for that real college experience, we had to step over some vommit on the sidewalk. Hard pass.

I’m laughing! We had a similar experience at Gettysburg (not the vomit) but DC was turned off by all the woke stuff and virtue signaling .

We toured a dozen colleges and the tour guides shared their pronouns at almost every single school. I think this is the norm.

We took a tour at Auburn about a month ago, and the guide did not share his (I'm assuming) pronouns. I don't really see the point--it's not an ongoing relationship, it's a 90 minute tour. I'm not going to be talking to his friends and family later about how "he" did this or that.

We were touring much different schools than Auburn. Mainly liberal arts colleges in the Midwest and northeast. The largest school we toured was W&M. I don’t have strong feelings about people announcing their pronouns. Since so many were doing it I figured it was something being done on college campuses these days.

[Anonymous]

It has been a few years now, but I did 14 college visits with my daughter when she was looking at schools to play soccer. She would do the "soccer" tour with the coaches and players, and I would hang out -- do the regular tour, eat in a cafeteria etc. . . On the drives (did not fly to any) back we would compare notes.

After about 4 or 5 campus visits she got really good at the process, and I got into comparing. It was interesting how different schools that you would think were quite similar gave off very different impressions. Only once did my impression differ from her impression.

We learned then (she was our 2nd to go off to college) how important time on campus was to the process. A tour is not enough. You need to be there in the evening, and in the morning. How safe is it? Where do people hang out? Go to the main off campus retail/restaurant area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a tour of JMU with daughter. At very beginning of the tour, the guide shared her pronouns. We walked past a nice big 4 story science building where it seemed every other window had a BLM sign. It was interesting because as we came around the building we looked back on the opposite side and saw no signs. It was if the idea was to virtue signal the visitors on tour that day. And finally, for that real college experience, we had to step over some vommit on the sidewalk. Hard pass.

I’m laughing! We had a similar experience at Gettysburg (not the vomit) but DC was turned off by all the woke stuff and virtue signaling .

We toured a dozen colleges and the tour guides shared their pronouns at almost every single school. I think this is the norm.

We took a tour at Auburn about a month ago, and the guide did not share his (I'm assuming) pronouns. I don't really see the point--it's not an ongoing relationship, it's a 90 minute tour. I'm not going to be talking to his friends and family later about how "he" did this or that.

We were touring much different schools than Auburn. Mainly liberal arts colleges in the Midwest and northeast. The largest school we toured was W&M. I don’t have strong feelings about people announcing their pronouns. Since so many were doing it I figured it was something being done on college campuses these days.

Pp you quoted (Auburn visitor) here
Oh you are correct it definitely is being done at a lot! My son has mostly been visiting large state universities and has encountered it--CU Boulder did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DC was turned off by all the woke stuff and virtue signaling.

I'm curious, how would you and your DC feel about a campus that has Trump flags in the windows and students wearing MAGA hats?

College educated is not associated with Trump's demographic. What university is full of Trump flags and MAGA hats?

I can't say that I've witnessed it, but states where 80% of the population voted for Trump (like Alabama, West Va.) would probably have Trump flags and MAGA hats on the students. And while Trump does love "the poorly educated" voters, some of his voters surely do have college degrees. (sadly)

Poster that did the tour of Auburn last month here-

I didn't see a single confederate flag or Trump flag/hat. And we drove there from--get this!--West Virginia! Two days before we drove down, we attended the WVU/Iowa State football game--no Trump/Confederate stuff there either!
Also visited University of Alabama several months ago and did not see them.

Then you didn't drive in I-68 or I-64 or I-79 because they are on both sides of the highway throughout WVA.

I drive those highways daily. I’ve never seen a Trump/Confederate flag there.

[Anonymous]

We saw them flying together on US-29 when we drove to UVA in October. And speaking of Charlottesville, remember Trump said there were "good people on both sides." He also fought the Pentagon to keep Confederate names and battle flags.

But, let's get back to the question about how visitors discern a "woke" campus. I'm genuinely curious. We've toured about 20 schools and I would be hard pressed to name any that were "woke." We did see a "stop Asian hate" sign at an SLAC in New England and the girl who served us grilled cheese and soup near Wellesley had a small nose ring and the guy at JP Licks in Harvard Square had dread locks. There was a group of kids smoking weed at the College of Charleston and a bunch of kids playing Spikeball and drinking out of red solo cups at UVA. But, the students at BC looked like the kids at W&M, Princeton, Wake Forest, UNC Charlotte, Vassar & Pitt. NYU, Duke, GW and Columbia had more international students, but we weren't picking up any "virtue signals."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We saw them flying together on US-29 when we drove to UVA in October. And speaking of Charlottesville, remember Trump said there were "good people on both sides." He also fought the Pentagon to keep Confederate names and battle flags.

But, let's get back to the question about how visitors discern a "woke" campus. I'm genuinely curious. We've toured about 20 schools and I would be hard pressed to name any that were "woke." We did see a "stop Asian hate" sign at an SLAC in New England and the girl who served us grilled cheese and soup near Wellesley had a small nose ring and the guy at JP Licks in Harvard Square had dread locks. There was a group of kids smoking weed at the College of Charleston and a bunch of kids playing Spikeball and drinking out of red solo cups at UVA. But, the students at BC looked like the kids at W&M, Princeton, Wake Forest, UNC Charlotte, Vassar & Pitt. NYU, Duke, GW and Columbia had more international students, but we weren't picking up any "virtue signals."

You didn't see wokeness on campus. Then you need to get out of your bubble to get to know the real world. Are you aware that Virginians voted democrats out of office because they were turned off by the wokes in schools and on school boards? Are you aware that many college professors are forced out of their positions because they speak politically incorrect opinions? Colleges are supposed to be the place where students and faculty engage in provocative ideas. No, that is not allowed anymore. Anyone who dares risks to be fired. But you could not see any wokeness on campus. Adorable.

[Anonymous]

Right, right, CRT is coming to get us and grab your guns because the virus is a hoax. This thread is about impressions based on college visits & tours across the country, not politics in Virginia (or any other state). Parents screaming at school board meetings have zero impact on my kid's college impressions. Some posters alleged their kids were turned off by the "woke" campus so I'm simply asking what that looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, right, CRT is coming to get us and grab your guns because the virus is a hoax. This thread is about impressions based on college visits & tours across the country, not politics in Virginia (or any other state). Parents screaming at school board meetings have zero impact on my kid's college impressions. Some posters alleged their kids were turned off by the "woke" campus so I'm simply asking what that looks like.

If you bother to read the thread, the person who started that discussion explained what they saw and heard that struck them as performative and “off putting.” Which is at least a real experience, as opposed to the completely imaginary “Trump signs and hats on campus” poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DC was turned off by all the woke stuff and virtue signaling.

I'm curious, how would you and your DC feel about a campus that has Trump flags in the windows and students wearing MAGA hats?

College educated is not associated with Trump's demographic. What university is full of Trump flags and MAGA hats?

I can't say that I've witnessed it, but states where 80% of the population voted for Trump (like Alabama, West Va.) would probably have Trump flags and MAGA hats on the students. And while Trump does love "the poorly educated" voters, some of his voters surely do have college degrees. (sadly)

Poster that did the tour of Auburn last month here-

I didn't see a single confederate flag or Trump flag/hat. And we drove there from--get this!--West Virginia! Two days before we drove down, we attended the WVU/Iowa State football game--no Trump/Confederate stuff there either!
Also visited University of Alabama several months ago and did not see them.

Then you didn't drive in I-68 or I-64 or I-79 because they are on both sides of the highway throughout WVA.

I drive those highways daily. I’ve never seen a Trump/Confederate flag there.

Then you aren't looking.