Harrop: Kids who don't go to college also matter
College campus. Credit: iStock
It shouldn't be this way, but the well-to-do tend to dominate public conversations. The result has been a national preoccupation with the comfort, safety and psychological health of children like theirs -- that is, children who go to college.
Thus, the students' problems get customized attention. Government asks: How can we protect women on campus from sexual assault? How can we stop students who drink too much or are "underage"?
Much has been written about the "two Americas." One of the sharper divides separates the college-bound from the rest. It's hard to believe that sexual predators roam more freely in dorms than in society at large. Or that there's more drunkenness around student hangouts than at working-class bars. What's striking isn't so much the worry over kids in college as the similar lack of concern over the other, usually less privileged, young people who don't go to college. When their bad behavior spills over, police are called. But when students act likewise, their cases may go to college administrators.
Clearly, the blanket of protection thrown over 19-year-olds in college is not extended to 19-year-olds working full time at a Target checkout.
And they are in the majority: Most Americans (58 percent) do not get an associate or bachelor's degree. And half the kids who go to college commute. But listen to who gets the attention in President Barack Obama's speech calling for more action on sexual violence at colleges: "We've been working on campus sexual assault for several years," he said, "but the issue of violence against women is now in the news every day."
The news stories largely involved professional athletes, whose beating victims have spent little, if any, time on a campus. Strange that a kind of violence directed at all women has brought forth initiatives to benefit the generally more fortunate.
Earlier this year, the administration focused a task force on sexual assaults on campus. It urged the institutions to toughen policies, encourage women to report sexual violence and protect the women's identities. It threatened fines against colleges that do not comply. And it set up a website just for those in higher education.
Rape and other sexual violence are serious crimes. They belong in the criminal justice system. But many victims want their cases overseen by the supposedly softer hand of college administrators -- often to avoid ruining the life of the alleged assailant, who may have been a friend.
In effect, college women are offered two justice systems to choose from. Non-students have one.
As for drinking problems, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has also tailored its services for the academic crowd. Its task force recommended programs to help students moderate their drinking and limiting the number of liquor stores near colleges. And it set up a web site.
The task force did ask, "Why target college student drinking?" And it offered reasons: Students die or are injured in alcohol-related accidents. Millions of them drive under the influence, and large numbers are assaulted by other drunken students.
How does that drinking experience differ from the noncollegiate drinking experience? The abuses sound exactly the same, so why not treat college students like everyone else?
We know why. The powers value the well-being of college kids more highly than that of their working-class cohorts. Of course, it's not fair.
