What is Kenyon College like -- looking for actual and recent experiences...

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My impression is that the SLACs are where the athletes and the NARPs can frolic freely together.

Not necessarily. Friend of mine had a son at Williams who said the athlete / rich kid / woke kid / "everyone else" cliques didn't mix much.

so four cliques? jock, rich, woke, and remainder?

I think it’s basically two. Athletes are often from well to do backgrounds so there is a natural overlap with jock and rich. (Some would argue the point of athletics is to attract full pay rich kids.) This woke nonsense has exacerbated the natural divergence between goal oriented athletes and creative/intellectual/dissolute NARPs. Now the NARPs can’t even be reasoned with. My DS at Kenyon is really far from a traditional jock although he plays a sport. But he does find a lot of these NARPs are truly abnormal people- shockingly so. His estimate is about half of them are really off the deep end. I’m happy his social life is centered around the sports/Greek kids (who overlap heavily). This generation may just be a little stranger than previous ones. Raised on iPhones, Covid, the rise of transgenderism/BLM, etc.

I don't even know what this means.

Imagine two boys. One has purple hair, is committed to social justice, enjoys drugs, writes poetry, plays the flute, and considers himself non-binary. Another one plays lacrosse, has a closet full of vineyard vines, enjoys beer and aspires to run a hedge fund. What I’m suggesting is a social paradigm that can be semi-accurately described as a tension between these two extreme poles.

The hedge fund-aspiring vineyard vines kid never does cocaine. Never. It's the poet-flautist who enjoys drugs, see.

Wokeness is to a large extent a reincarnation of 1960s counter culture (led by the same hero, Herbert Marcuse, who preached sexual liberation). So yeah I think the woke kids are the ones messing around with drugs primarily.

You didn’t learn to reason at a LAC, did you?

A few anti-"woke" influencers have mentioned Marcuse lately, always in terms simplistic enough to fit a tidy agenda. My guess is PP read about Marcuse in somebody's substack, or the equivalent.

Funny, PP here, I first read Marcuse as a freshman at the non-Cornell Ivy in a small seminar with a world famous scholar who if I recall correctly was one of his protégés. So F off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My impression is that the SLACs are where the athletes and the NARPs can frolic freely together.

Not necessarily. Friend of mine had a son at Williams who said the athlete / rich kid / woke kid / "everyone else" cliques didn't mix much.

so four cliques? jock, rich, woke, and remainder?

I think it’s basically two. Athletes are often from well to do backgrounds so there is a natural overlap with jock and rich. (Some would argue the point of athletics is to attract full pay rich kids.) This woke nonsense has exacerbated the natural divergence between goal oriented athletes and creative/intellectual/dissolute NARPs. Now the NARPs can’t even be reasoned with. My DS at Kenyon is really far from a traditional jock although he plays a sport. But he does find a lot of these NARPs are truly abnormal people- shockingly so. His estimate is about half of them are really off the deep end. I’m happy his social life is centered around the sports/Greek kids (who overlap heavily). This generation may just be a little stranger than previous ones. Raised on iPhones, Covid, the rise of transgenderism/BLM, etc.

I don't even know what this means.

Imagine two boys. One has purple hair, is committed to social justice, enjoys drugs, writes poetry, plays the flute, and considers himself non-binary. Another one plays lacrosse, has a closet full of vineyard vines, enjoys beer and aspires to run a hedge fund. What I’m suggesting is a social paradigm that can be semi-accurately described as a tension between these two extreme poles.

The hedge fund-aspiring vineyard vines kid never does cocaine. Never. It's the poet-flautist who enjoys drugs, see.

Wokeness is to a large extent a reincarnation of 1960s counter culture (led by the same hero, Herbert Marcuse, who preached sexual liberation). So yeah I think the woke kids are the ones messing around with drugs primarily.

You didn’t learn to reason at a LAC, did you?

A few anti-"woke" influencers have mentioned Marcuse lately, always in terms simplistic enough to fit a tidy agenda. My guess is PP read about Marcuse in somebody's substack, or the equivalent.

Funny, PP here, I first read Marcuse as a freshman at the non-Cornell Ivy in a small seminar with a world famous scholar who if I recall correctly was one of his protégés. So F off.

Apologies. Your post read to me like someone was invoking a Frankfurt School philosopher for the sake of making a cheap political stereotype seem more like an intellectual argument. But it sounds like you've read him for real, so I must be wrong about that. (Turkish protege?) Effing off now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My impression is that the SLACs are where the athletes and the NARPs can frolic freely together.

Not necessarily. Friend of mine had a son at Williams who said the athlete / rich kid / woke kid / "everyone else" cliques didn't mix much.

so four cliques? jock, rich, woke, and remainder?

I think it’s basically two. Athletes are often from well to do backgrounds so there is a natural overlap with jock and rich. (Some would argue the point of athletics is to attract full pay rich kids.) This woke nonsense has exacerbated the natural divergence between goal oriented athletes and creative/intellectual/dissolute NARPs. Now the NARPs can’t even be reasoned with. My DS at Kenyon is really far from a traditional jock although he plays a sport. But he does find a lot of these NARPs are truly abnormal people- shockingly so. His estimate is about half of them are really off the deep end. I’m happy his social life is centered around the sports/Greek kids (who overlap heavily). This generation may just be a little stranger than previous ones. Raised on iPhones, Covid, the rise of transgenderism/BLM, etc.

I don't even know what this means.

Imagine two boys. One has purple hair, is committed to social justice, enjoys drugs, writes poetry, plays the flute, and considers himself non-binary. Another one plays lacrosse, has a closet full of vineyard vines, enjoys beer and aspires to run a hedge fund. What I’m suggesting is a social paradigm that can be semi-accurately described as a tension between these two extreme poles.

The hedge fund-aspiring vineyard vines kid never does cocaine. Never. It's the poet-flautist who enjoys drugs, see.

Wokeness is to a large extent a reincarnation of 1960s counter culture (led by the same hero, Herbert Marcuse, who preached sexual liberation). So yeah I think the woke kids are the ones messing around with drugs primarily.

You didn’t learn to reason at a LAC, did you?

A few anti-"woke" influencers have mentioned Marcuse lately, always in terms simplistic enough to fit a tidy agenda. My guess is PP read about Marcuse in somebody's substack, or the equivalent.

Funny, PP here, I first read Marcuse as a freshman at the non-Cornell Ivy in a small seminar with a world famous scholar who if I recall correctly was one of his protégés. So F off.

Apologies. Your post read to me like someone was invoking a Frankfurt School philosopher for the sake of making a cheap political stereotype seem more like an intellectual argument. But it sounds like you've read him for real, so I must be wrong about that. (Turkish protege?) Effing off now!

Reading Marcuse as a freshman doesn't make someone immune from invoking him for half-assed political points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My impression is that the SLACs are where the athletes and the NARPs can frolic freely together.

Not necessarily. Friend of mine had a son at Williams who said the athlete / rich kid / woke kid / "everyone else" cliques didn't mix much.

so four cliques? jock, rich, woke, and remainder?

I think it’s basically two. Athletes are often from well to do backgrounds so there is a natural overlap with jock and rich. (Some would argue the point of athletics is to attract full pay rich kids.) This woke nonsense has exacerbated the natural divergence between goal oriented athletes and creative/intellectual/dissolute NARPs. Now the NARPs can’t even be reasoned with. My DS at Kenyon is really far from a traditional jock although he plays a sport. But he does find a lot of these NARPs are truly abnormal people- shockingly so. His estimate is about half of them are really off the deep end. I’m happy his social life is centered around the sports/Greek kids (who overlap heavily). This generation may just be a little stranger than previous ones. Raised on iPhones, Covid, the rise of transgenderism/BLM, etc.

I don't even know what this means.

Imagine two boys. One has purple hair, is committed to social justice, enjoys drugs, writes poetry, plays the flute, and considers himself non-binary. Another one plays lacrosse, has a closet full of vineyard vines, enjoys beer and aspires to run a hedge fund. What I’m suggesting is a social paradigm that can be semi-accurately described as a tension between these two extreme poles.

The hedge fund-aspiring vineyard vines kid never does cocaine. Never. It's the poet-flautist who enjoys drugs, see.

Wokeness is to a large extent a reincarnation of 1960s counter culture (led by the same hero, Herbert Marcuse, who preached sexual liberation). So yeah I think the woke kids are the ones messing around with drugs primarily.

You didn’t learn to reason at a LAC, did you?

A few anti-"woke" influencers have mentioned Marcuse lately, always in terms simplistic enough to fit a tidy agenda. My guess is PP read about Marcuse in somebody's substack, or the equivalent.

Funny, PP here, I first read Marcuse as a freshman at the non-Cornell Ivy in a small seminar with a world famous scholar who if I recall correctly was one of his protégés. So F off.

Apologies. Your post read to me like someone was invoking a Frankfurt School philosopher for the sake of making a cheap political stereotype seem more like an intellectual argument. But it sounds like you've read him for real, so I must be wrong about that. (Turkish protege?) Effing off now!

Reading Marcuse as a freshman doesn't make someone immune from invoking him for half-assed political points.

Are we disputing Marcuse's vast influence on today's critical theorists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is not at Kenyon, but I have spent time on campus and my kid is a D3 athlete. Kenyon is a beautiful campus with spectacular athletic facilities. Good luck to your child and you MIL should keep her mouth shut.

Agree. SLAC are nothing like a public high school! Really stupid thing to “wonder”.[/quote]

This…1 billion percent. SLACS are nothing like high school, sorry to disappoint.

OP, congrats to your DD! Kenyon is a fantastic school !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid chose Kenyon b/c it was the "best" academic school that "recruited" him to play his sport. No top tier NESCAC did, and Swarthmore and Haverford could not guarantee him admission based on his pre-read. So admittedly Kenyon was his Plan B, but his experience, education, and the strength of the alumni network has catapulted him to a strata only thought was possible in dreams....

Why is "recruited" in quotes? Was he not recruited in the sense that the coach encouraged him to apply, gave him an academic pre-read, gave him whatever admissions advantage athletes receive, all that stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My impression is that the SLACs are where the athletes and the NARPs can frolic freely together.

Not necessarily. Friend of mine had a son at Williams who said the athlete / rich kid / woke kid / "everyone else" cliques didn't mix much.

so four cliques? jock, rich, woke, and remainder?

I think it’s basically two. Athletes are often from well to do backgrounds so there is a natural overlap with jock and rich. (Some would argue the point of athletics is to attract full pay rich kids.) This woke nonsense has exacerbated the natural divergence between goal oriented athletes and creative/intellectual/dissolute NARPs. Now the NARPs can’t even be reasoned with. My DS at Kenyon is really far from a traditional jock although he plays a sport. But he does find a lot of these NARPs are truly abnormal people- shockingly so. His estimate is about half of them are really off the deep end. I’m happy his social life is centered around the sports/Greek kids (who overlap heavily). This generation may just be a little stranger than previous ones. Raised on iPhones, Covid, the rise of transgenderism/BLM, etc.

I don't even know what this means.

Imagine two boys. One has purple hair, is committed to social justice, enjoys drugs, writes poetry, plays the flute, and considers himself non-binary. Another one plays lacrosse, has a closet full of vineyard vines, enjoys beer and aspires to run a hedge fund. What I’m suggesting is a social paradigm that can be semi-accurately described as a tension between these two extreme poles.

I hopped over here to cleanse the palate after the “10 best colleges for dating” thread made me feel like I was 150 years old. After reading this post, I think I’m going back.

IKR? What a scary poster equating "woke" with crazy, claiming that this generation is "strange" because of the "rise of transgenderism and BLM?" That’s some highly partisan whacky horse hockey. And this idea that the blue haired kid can't be friends with the beer drinking jock? The jock might be the blue haired kid! My kid is an athlete, actor, singer and composer. Oh, and math major. She has a host of diverse friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Dennison was the good SLAC in Ohio now.

This is an accurate comment.

[Anonymous]

A common issue at small schools is the gossip--everyone knows your business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Dennison was the good SLAC in Ohio now.

This is an accurate comment.

I often post in support of Denison as my DS had a good experience.

Denison being a good fit for some does not nor should it detract from Kenyon.

And keep in mind that Kenyon has historically been regarded as the more academic of the two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Dennison was the good SLAC in Ohio now.

This is an accurate comment.

I often post in support of Denison as my DS had a good experience.

Denison being a good fit for some does not nor should it detract from Kenyon.

And keep in mind that Kenyon has historically been regarded as the more academic of the two.

Very true. Kenyon and Oberlin were always among the top SLACS of the midwest, renowned for their rigorous academics. Both schools were (and still are!) very popular among kids from my HS in DC. Kenyon has an incredible writing program and the Kenyon Review is THE literary magazine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Dennison was the good SLAC in Ohio now.

This is an accurate comment.

I often post in support of Denison as my DS had a good experience.

Denison being a good fit for some does not nor should it detract from Kenyon.

And keep in mind that Kenyon has historically been regarded as the more academic of the two.

I really appreciate this post. It’s nice to see that appreciating one school does not demand denigrating another. Really weird how rare that is here. Glad your son had a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Over spring break we visited a number of schools, Kenyon being one of them. When we walked onto campus, *I* was really to apply LOL. It's a gorgeous place.

Ultimately, not making DC's list due to two things:

1. Location: DC not looking for something this remote
2. They don't offer a minor in something DC is very passionate about.

However, overall it is a lovely school and would be an amazing place to go to college for many students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Over spring break we visited a number of schools, Kenyon being one of them. When we walked onto campus, *I* was really to apply LOL. It's a gorgeous place.

Ultimately, not making DC's list due to two things:

1. Location: DC not looking for something this remote
2. They don't offer a minor in something DC is very passionate about.

However, overall it is a lovely school and would be an amazing place to go to college for many students.

Out of curiosity, what's the minor of interest and what schools have it?

[Anonymous]

I’m guessing CS. Non-existent at Kenyon.