The American Life podcast which is about Penn State University
ranking number one party school is unjust. Yes, we can be the number one party
school, but to party doesn’t mean to get drunk. The interviewers left out those
who know how to have a good time without drinking. Penn State is already a big
school in terms of numbers. So, while there are students who get drunk, there
are certainly a lot of students who party and don’t drink and I am one of them.
The podcast focuses on a few students who acted
bizarrely while drunk. Everywhere we go there will always be the crowd who get
drunk and act accordingly. What about the students who don’t drink alcohol or
those who don’t act in this manner even if they have drank some alcohol? It
places me, as well as other student who are like me in the category of those
who are being described in the podcast and that is not fair.
This Podcast was aired in 2009 and as of today Penn
State is no longer ranked the number one party school. I feel as though that is
a good thing although some may beg to differ. If the interviewers’ description
of the number one party school means to be the school that has the most drunken
students then I don’t understand why any Penn State student would want to still
be considered number one. It’s now 2011 and it’s my first year at Penn State,
so it feels good to know that we are no longer ranked number one. Still, it
hurts to know that we were ‘known’ as that to begin with.
As a freshman, I’ve been very alert when walking
around campus on weekdays and weekends. As alert as I have been I haven’t seen
any crazy things taking place such as “ drunk students throwing furniture out
of the window and setting it on fire or people punching delivery men” as they
describe in the podcast. I don’t even understand how that is considered
partying. I’m here every day and I go out almost every weekend once I’m done my
work. It relieves stress and rebuilds your energy for the next week. On the
other hand, we do know how to party. An event such as THON which is FTK (for
the kids) takes place every year. That is a big party, where students dance to
music and raise lots of money. This year Penn State raised $10, 686,924.83. This isn’t the first year that THON has taken
place so if we’re talking about partying, why wasn’t that described?
We’re in the stage of life where we want to have fun
before we go off to our careers and after college we’ll never have the chance
to party so much again. The set standard for number one party school did not
qualify for the whole school. Out of the 40,000 or so students who attend Penn
State, there were only about 10 students or less described in the podcast. How
can they vouch for the whole school?
I love the fact that you brought up Penn State's reputation as being a big party school. I agree that many people often tend to think of Penn State as just a party school and overlook the other great things, such as Thon and other events, that take place at Penn State and aren't negative. This can be very unfair for the students that don't participate in this behavior and but are perceived as such.
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