I recently read an Odyssey article titled “From The Girl Who Skipped The Partying Stage” in which the author referenced how her lack of partaking in “stereotypical college behavior” was the right decision for her because she felt those college moments were not going to be the ones she would remember as the best years of her life. The author details how her decisions to not involve herself in certain habits doesn’t make her boring or a prude, but just another way to go about her life. I appreciated the author’s point of view because I think it’s courageous of her to express herself and not subject herself to what she feels are college pressures, but I also had several problems with what she wrote. I found the article to be highly negative and not necessarily accurate in its depiction of college students.
For example, for someone who didn’t want to be stigmatized for her choices not to ‘party’ in college - I felt she made a lot of generalizations about the behaviors of college students, citing certain behaviors as “stereotypical college party-girl behavior” or those of a “stereotypical college kid”. The author wrote in a way that made it seem as if every person who attends a college party reacts the same way, which is a blatant fallacy. Because college is a place where people of all different backgrounds and environments come together, all with morals and beliefs that will influence the way they behave, not everyone will react in the same way in any situation, let alone a party, which I believe the author overlooked.
Another problem I had with this article was so much of the language used to describe party-going college students. I found it to be in very poor taste for the author to use phrases such as “hooking up with strangers”, “belligerently drunk every weekend” and “…compliment your dress that is just a little too tight” as they come across as critical and superfluous to the original point about her personal choices.
Contrary to the author’s statement “…my priorities lay in a different place than the stereotypical college kid” I believe many students maintain a balance between their academics and the way they choose to spend their down time. I myself am involved in a community outreach program, I play a club sport and am in collegiate honor societies. But this doesn’t mean I don’t like going out with friends to parties. And other times I like staying in. I don’t think you have to be one or the other, a partier or non-partier- but I don’t think time is lost or wasted if you want to be the former rather than the latter. Everyone should be able to make their own decisions without fearing judgement from another person.
In closing, whether a person chooses to partake in certain behaviors while in college should be of their own volition, without being subject to criticism. I agree with the author that she shouldn’t be judged for “missing the party stage” and there is a wrongful stigma attached to those who don’t want to involve themselves in that side of college. But this also applies in the reverse, as many students who like the social scene are portrayed as poor students incapable of making good decisions. I like eating too much pizza and singing to Taylor Swift as well- but sometimes I like it after going to a frat party and dancing with girls I barely know.
