Jake, What’s it like to go to college with boys?!
-Katherine Bauer
Just to clarify, Katherine’s a third-year student at Smith
College in Massachusetts, a school famous in part for being an
all-girl’s institution. I can just imagine her face while
thinking about the question, lighting up at any mention of the
opposite sex and immediately causing the giggles of, well, a
schoolgirl. I’m not sure I can fully answer Katherine’s
question, though; I’m a boy, so I don’t know what any
experience is like without them, making it difficult to distinguish
what exactly they add to the proverbial collegiate table. Every
experience in my life has included at least one boy, so it’s
a little difficult to perceive the elimination of the sex from my
imagination. Still, I’ll try. I’m guessing that going
to school with boys is a little bit like living with them, and
since I’ve done that, I can try to relate. We’re a
little bit more messy than girls and usually less sensitive, which
in a domestic setting combines to create a low-key atmosphere free
of the stereotypical drama commonly associated with human beings
without Y chromosomes. Maybe that translates to a less stressful
and dramatic school experience, too. I realize it seems
counterintuitive at first; you’d think that the mixing of the
sexes would only create more drama. Think about it this way: Girls,
concentrate on all the frustration revolving around finding guys
that’s avoided when they’re already around. And guys,
well, having girls around at school is rarely a bad thing.
Ironically enough, to a guy the prospect of a school without guys
isn’t such a bad proposition. I may be wrong, but I think
many porn movies have been made based on such an idea, as long as
everyone’s wearing matching uniforms. But perhaps I’m
looking at it from the wrong angle because when I think about a
school made up of only guys, I certainly don’t have the same
reaction. Objectively, homosocial communities haven’t been
productive since the Elizabethan Era, meaning that Smith College is
about 400 years behind the times. Interaction between the sexes
isn’t just about procreation, it’s more about creation,
as the human mind can easily form new ideas when facing new
situations. And new situations come from new sources of
stimulation. Adam would have gotten pretty bored all by himself. So
altogether what is it like to go to school with boys? Normal.
Tracer thinks if there was an all-guys college, somebody
would sue. E-mail him all your concerns at
jtracer@media.ucla.edu.