“Paris Hilton-itis has Infected American College Students,” Says Professor

Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse Professor and recent guest on ‘The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch,’ says that campus culture is out of control. He offers tips on fixing the problem.

(PRWEB) August 4, 2006 -- Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University professor and author of “Quick and Dirty Secrets of College Success,” states that American college students are now being infected with “Paris Hiltonitis.” He claims that the “disease” consists of symptoms related to an overwhelming sense of laziness and entitlement, along with excessive behavior in the form of long nights of partying and drinking. Dr. Watkins argues that this mentality is what creates the environment for situations such as the one at Duke University.

“We really need a revolution in parenting,” says Watkins, who has given advice in USA Today and the New York Times. “Our nation is raising a bunch of fat little Play Station addicts who can’t spell the word ‘NBA.’ Then, they wonder why 19-year-old kids at Duke are having parties with 27-year-old strippers and gallons of alcohol.”

Watkins has long fought against the ready acceptance of binge drinking on campuses. He argues that these habits lead to students becoming alcoholics or victims of crime. “We produce a lot of graduates, but we also produce a lot of future alcoholics, AIDS patients, rape victims and members of gamblers anonymous,” says Watkins, who was interviewed by Fox News recently on the same topic. “We need to stop allowing young people to believe that drinking till you puke every weekend is simply normal campus behavior. It’s not.”

After teaching at five major universities and witnessing many campus tragedies, Dr. Watkins argues that parents can be enablers of this form of behavior. He states that parents don’t expect their children to get jobs on campus, don’t enforce academic excellence and protect their children from their own mistakes. “If you give someone a wheelchair before they learn to walk, then they will never bother to learn to use their legs,” says Watkins, who is now a visiting Scholar with the Center for European Economic Research. “Parents sometimes feel that every little thing must be provided for, and that an energetic 19-year-old is going to use that extra free time to study. Nope, many are going to study 15 hours per week and spend the rest of their time memorizing the local bars, gambling, or having sex with everything that moves. The idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”

Watkins offers these tips to parents to help their children avoid Paris Hiton-itis:

1) Teach them the concept of personal responsibility. The message should be clear: if you screw up, you are going to have to unscrew yourself.

2) Force them to get a job for 20 hours a week to earn their own money. This will make them more mature, teach them the value of hard work, keep them out of trouble and teach them to manage their time.

3) Teach them to be leaders, not followers. Most students on campus get involved in heavy drinking because they are following the crowd. Give them the courage to be different.

4) Teach them the dangers of alcohol. Show them videos of people killed, hurt or arrested under the influence, so they do not glamorize drinking.

5) Do not accept poor academic performance. This is your money, so you have a right to expect them to do a good job.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of “Quick and Dirty Secrets of College Success – A professor tells it all”. He is also directs the Step Up and Go to College Program, designed to get inner city students to go to college. He has been a guest on Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Hannity & Colmes, and cited in USA Today, Forbes Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and many other outlets. For interviews, please call (315) 487-1176 or email. For more information, please visit www.boycewatkins.com.

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