I’m pretty sure that college kids aren’t the same breed of human as the rest of the population, and that’s mostly because the rest of the world would never find the majority of what happens on a college campus even remotely socially acceptable.
For one, granted I do live on an urban campus, it is universally accepted that pedestrians are more powerful than the bike, car, or bus coming down the street. Especially in groups, college students just walk in front of any and all fast moving vehicles. I blame the lure of free tuition in the case of getting hit by the campus bus, but I’m not sure getting hit by a bus is worth free tuition. Maybe give me past freshman year, though, and perhaps my mentality will change.
Second, it has become acceptable to be asleep pretty much anywhere on campus. On the first floor of my dorm building, there’s a common area with comfy chairs and couches and tables for students to just hang around or do homework. More often than not, there’s someone just catching some z’s on the couch. I liken this to there being a common area in an office building, where it would definitely not be socially acceptable to passed out for an hour or two.
Third, it’s more normal to show up to morning classes looking like you just rolled out of bed than it is to show up showered and ready. I guarantee it is more common to see kids in pajamas and slippers than in anything that would be worn and considered “actual clothes”. To be fair, it’s actually impressive how many students at my school do wear actual clothes, but the sweatpants to 8 AM classes tradition still definitely stands.
All of this still comes before general cleaning habits and hygiene habits. Before my roommate brought her own vacuum from home, we had vacuumed our room once over the course of three months. When we brought up to our friends that we dusted on occasion, we were met with extreme surprise. Not to mention that my roommate and I make our beds every day, which makes us even more of a minority. Our room is basically an extension of the common room because of it though, because we easily have the cleanest and most put together room on the floor. Speaking of the common room, though, that is eternally trashed. To an extent where we’ve just accepted there will be half empty chip bags and half eaten plates of food from the dining hall sitting around.
In the end, college is clearly not part of the real world at all. Which it honestly isn’t, to be honest. College is a strange little mid-way point between being a kid and being an adult, and that clearly shows in our inability to get dressed, vacuum regularly, or value our personal safety when crossing the street.
