Dartmouth College is in the news for what has been described as verbal assault by some of its students on students from Harvard during a squash match. I think the behavior of the Dartmouth students involved is abominable and fortunately the students have apologized for their actions. What really bothers me is that these bright students couldn’t find a better way to show support for their team. But I want to draw a bigger point here.
College students sometimes do stupid things. Hey, we all do stupid things. But over the years there have been a number of actions that have occurred at Dartmouth that brings into question the students tolerance of people different from themselves. This happens at many colleges besides Dartmouth; they just happen to be in the news right now.
While investigating colleges, high school students should try to determine what the culture of a particular campus is. Is it a party school? What is the effect of athletics on the campus? Do the students truly tolerate people and ideas that are different from the norm? These are the types of questions you should ask about a campus before deciding whether to apply. And the best way to get the answer to these types of questions is to visit a campus.
Finding the right college requires more than looking at the size and location of a particular college. There are many issues that you should consider to find the best college for your needs and the culture of the campus is just one of those issues.
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