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originally was going to build a 41 foot rock climbing wall, but after hearing that Texas A&M had a wall 44 feet high, they revamped their plans, and made theirs 52 feet high. But alas, not to be outdone, the University of Houston built one 53 feet high. Baylor also has a pool with a lazy river, and offers massage therapy in its sports recreation complex. MIT has fitness rooms in all its dorms, dance studios, and music practice rooms with baby grand pianos. According to Sarah Schweitzer, of Boston.com., Northeastern University has installed a feature called "Laundry View" which allows students to check on their laundry by computer access, from their college dorm. Texas A&M-Commerce has a planetarium, and on and on it goes. (It's a pity how these kids are suffering at college, isn't it?)

If all this wasn't enough, Boston architect Jonathan Levi, has come up with a futuristic new college dorm design that surpasses anyone's wildest dreams. In his concept, there are giant wall-sized computer screens, where a student can press a button and access his professor's lecture. The wall would then revert to a floor to ceiling window with one touch. Students would pick out their own prefab new college dorm rooms, which would then be shipped to their college location, and the rooms would have modular furniture and movable walls. Since youth are used to customizing everything these days, why not design their own new college dorm rooms? Levi says that the prefab style would actually be cheaper than traditional college dorms.

I guess it's inevitable that the times are changing, but I wonder what kind of precedent these new college dorm accommodations present to students? Will they always feel the need to live at this income level? Will they ever truly appreciate the fruits of hard work and persistence in achieving a higher level of living? And what will they have to look forward to? Lastly, with all these amenities in new college dorms, how are they getting any studying done? (I'm just sayin'...)

Sources:

http://www.boston.com/news/loc al/articles/2007/09/02/college _dorms_get_high_tech_treatment /

http://www.dallasnews.com/shar edcontent/dws/dn/education/sto ries/0728dnmetclimbing.e8b960. html

http://media.www.theeastcaroli nian.com/media/storage/paper91 5/news/2004/09/16/Features/For get.Group.Showers.New.College. Dorms.Aim.To.Be.Homey-2209184. shtml

http://www.openeducation.net/2 007/09/05/twenty-first-century -college-dorms/

http://www.boston.com/news/edu cation/higher/articles/2006/09 /14/college_dorms_go_upscale/

http://www.observer-reporter.c om/OR/Story/03-17-What-s-up-wi th-dorms

http://www.theglobeandmail.com /servlet/story/RTGAM.20070904. wldorms04/BNStory/lifeFamily/h ome

http://www.dallasnews.com/shar edcontent/dws/dn/education/sto ries/0728dnmetclimbing.e8b960. html

http://www.boston.com/news/loc al/articles/2008/04/27/the_new _campus_crib/

http://1237west.com/#/Why-1237 -West/

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