问答题

In many countries, it is quite common that universities would assign students to share a dorm room. The following article discusses the roommate selection system in some universities in the US. Read it carefully and write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the author’s opinion and then 2. express your opinion on whether college students should be allowed to choose their own roommates. College Housing Selection Process Should Let Students Choose Roommates Many college students have faced a roommate problem at some point in their lives. Why some universities would prohibit self-selection of roommates or assign roommates in order to get students "out of their comfort zone" is beyond me. University administrators need to be aware of the unintended consequences of such policies. Not allowing students to choose roommates interferes with the natural social relationships people build during their college years. According to a recent USA TODAY report, Stanford University students can’t choose roommates nor do they learn who their roommates will be until move-in day. Entering freshmen who might know people going to Palo Alto in the fall are forced to make friends with random people when they move in, possibly negatively impacting their freshman year experience. Choosing roommate combinations that place different sorts of people together, can result in awkward living situations and unintended results. Most people like to choose the kinds of people they befriend. To pretend this does not continue after college in the "real world" is naive at best and somewhat dangerous. The tragic incident of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide just days after his roommate spied on him and bullied him, helps to prove the point that some people just don’t get along with certain others. Forcing such people to coexist for at least a year can be harmful to both parties, and this policy should be pursued with caution. While creating combinations of students with different backgrounds might be what universities want, the students’ preferences should still come first. Look at it this way: the student is a paying customer, using certain facilities and services—the university—with the expectation his or her experience will be an enjoyable one. Why sacrifice this in the name of artificial and forced cultural exposure Students who like to be taken out of their comfort zones will definitely seek out opportunities to do this on their own. I believe Tech’s roommate selection process is decent Students can choose specific roommates even as incoming freshmen. Students can also choose random roommates, within certain basic criteria such as a student’s smoking habits and preferences of visitation hours. This works well enough, but could improve with the help of more selection factors. Rochester Institute of Technology will begin use a software program in order to match students with those who they are most compatible with. This approach ensures compatible people will have a chance to room together, making for, if nothing else, a more predictable freshman year.