[841] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Observations on the Newest Generation of MIT Students
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alexander (Sasha) Bouis)
Tue Oct 2 15:17:47 2001
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Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0110021031290.29641-100000@sub-zero.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 14:33:44 -0400
Reply-To: "Documentation at http://web.mit.edu/beland/talk/talk.html"
<MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU>, "Alexander (Sasha) Bouis" <hands@BOUIS.NET>
From: "Alexander (Sasha) Bouis" <hands@BOUIS.NET>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
Dean Jones--
Your article, "Observations on the Newest Generation of MIT Students", is
very insightful in many ways. However, I respectfully suggest that you
reconsider the logic and reasoning that led you to the conclusions in the
two paragraphs you wrote below.
While doing so, please consider these points:
- If you were accustomed to unlimited internet access and hundreds of
choices of cable TV channels, would you prefer a housing system with
maximum choice, or one with no choice?
- Prospective students began expressing displeasure with the housing
system after the administration began to make changes. How can you
attribute the growing dissatisfaction of prospective (and current)
students to a system that is disappearing?
MIT housing is not changing "just in time". It is the absolute opposite:
it is changing in the wrong ways for the wrong reasons at the wrong time!
The data in table #2 clearly shows that as options are decreased in the
housing system, student dissatisfaction increases.
MIT's housing system used to be a unique and shining example of respect
for student's intelligence and ability to choose. It was like NO OTHER
SCHOOL in the country, perhaps even the world. It reflected the unique
nature of the MIT student and of MIT itself. It encompassed the diversity
of the school and the students, and allowed the students to express that
diversity for themselves. The housing system was the thing about MIT I
valued most, it was what I bragged about to my friends when they were all
being assigned dorms and roommates. It was the system that would give the
diverse "Millennial" generation the choices that they deserve.
I eagerly await your considered reply to the two questions I have posed
above.
Yours Truly,
--sasha
Alexander (Sasha) Bouis '99
----- Marilee Jones wrote: -----
> Is MIT a good match for this generation?
>
> In many ways, we are a good match for them. These kids are hard
> workers, carrying up to a third more courses in high school than we
> did at their age, so the MIT workload isn't as big an issue to them.
> They can balance competing demands. MIT is the firehose. They are
> diverse and require diversity. You can't find a more diverse private
> university in the US than MIT. They can lead or follow as required,
> and there are plenty of opportunities to do both here. They desire
> relevant work. We're all about relevance, eschewing ivory tower. They
> are intensely busy. Busy is our middle name.
>
> But in many more ways I worry about the match. First, while these
> Millennials are busy, they are "diverse" busy, spreading their
> energies over many activities, not the "focused" busy of the classic
> Techie, who eats, sleeps, and dreams their passion. They desire
> structure when we are all about choice. They don't consider "choice"
> to be a value as the Boomers and Gen Xers do. These kids were raised
> on the World Wide Web and 90 channels of cable. They do not need 30+
> choices of living groups - they are busy...they just want a room. You
> can see the evidence for this attitude in [8]Table #2, the chart
> listing the top reasons why admitted MIT applicants chose to enroll
> elsewhere. Last year, for the first time, housing and the quality of
> the campus, was the #3 reason why the students we worked so hard to
> admit went to other schools. This year, the quality of student life,
> which includes housing and campus issues, was #2 on that list. This
> generation is voting with its feet. The current housing system with
> its myriad choices and arcane rules, an artefact of the Boomer era, is
> no longer relevant to the students of today. MIT housing is changing
> just in time.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Alexander (Sasha) "Hands" Bouis - hands~bouis.net - bouis~alum.mit.edu
Standard & Poor's Information Technology - NYC - www.ratingsdirect.com
no matter who i am i am i as you see me --chali 2na
