[1958] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] [UA-SCATR] New Card initiative
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jessica H Lowell)
Tue Jul 4 03:42:12 2006
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2006 03:41:49 -0400
From: Jessica H Lowell <jessiehl@mit.edu>
To: grace <gkenney@mit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.62L.0607031657570.2156@home-on-the-dome.mit.edu>
Cc: reubano@alum.mit.edu, faber@alum.mit.edu,
"Pius
A. Uzamere II" <pius@alum.mit.edu>,
Michael Shaw <mshaw@mit.edu>, Robotica <androidqueen@gmail.com>,
mit-talk@mit.edu
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
Unless something has changed from the plan originally presented to CDAB
(and we
should find out if this is the case), students can move money from
their Dining
Dollars account to their TechCash account without parental consent, so
this plan
doesn't actually restrict student freedom any more than TechCash does. As
administrative plans go, and believe me I've heard plenty of them, I don't
think this one is particularly pernicious. I _do_ think it's pointless, and I
argued this in the spring when I first heard about it. I doubt that it will
even accomplish the stated goal of resulting in fewer confused parents
bothering Rich Berlin's office every fall.
If people want to complain about trends in MIT Dining, there are more
disturbing
ones that I can think of. I don't know how many people on this list have ever
sat in on a CDAB (Campus Dining Advisory Board) meeting, but the major issues
of discussion are frequently the social engineering agendas of various people
present. In particular, the well-meaning nutrition types who see
Campus Dining
as a great way to teach students about healthy eating habits, and the
"community" types who think that it's a tool to impose community and
socialization on groups of people (nothing to do with CDAB, but look what's
happened at McCormick!). The idea that a student might just want to grab a
burger or a slice of pizza to take back to the 001 lab while they pull an
all-nighter is seen by many as undesirable.
- Jessie
Quoting grace <gkenney@MIT.EDU>:
>
> i agree with the fact that the dining dollars, as the system has been
> described, don't necessarily do that [unless it would not be possible for
> a student enrolled in the dining dollars program to put their own money
> into a normal tech cash account.] it's the stated motivation that i
> find more worrisome. if a parent is providing food-money or an allowance
> to their child, they'll have to work out the terms with the student [and
> they'll have to decide how much they trust the student.] i don't see any
> reason for MIT to get involved, or for MIT to try to actively make it
> easier for parents to monitor and dictate their student's behavior.
>
> -grace
>
> gibbering like hunter thompson on a revolutionary drug,
> androidqueen@gmail....:
>
>>> furthermore - again, does MIT want to embrace the idea that undergraduates
>>> are more or less adults, or does it want to treat them as children? the
>>> trend has been towards the latter, yes, but in the past, MIT has generally
>>> espoused the idea that MIT students are intelligent and mature enough to
>>> deal with a certain amount of independence. parents who didn't dorm
>>> choice {oh no, my little darling is going to live in a shithole like
>>> EC?} had to suck it up or work it out with their kids. giving the
>>> institute and parents more control over students' lives is a step away
>>> from that - and yeah, it's something that i think should be fought.
>>
>> at the risk of making a lot of enemies, i'd say that this plan does
>> not treat students like children. if you pay for your
>> TechCash/whatever, you're allowed to do what you want with your money
>> (much the way that, as an adult, i like to put my money in different
>> places to help me improve my spending habits), and, if your parents
>> pay for your TechCash/whatever, then they can specifiy that they only
>> want you to buy food with it. if students want to buy things that
>> their folks don't want them to buy, they'll have to become somewhat
>> financially independant.
>>
>> -m
>>
>> --
>> ninjaneer. geomancer. licensed scientician.
>>
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