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Message: [QUOTE="OttoinGrotto, post: 3067918, member: 297"] There are aspects of Penn State as an entity within higher education that certainly have merit. There's no debating that. As an institution, they contribute to society. Significantly. The stains of the past don't erase and don't prevent other advances in the future. However, there are aspects of the institution that are proven to be insidious. The athletic department in particular engaged in one of the most horrific and abominable cover-ups and enablement of child abuse in the history of our country. It may be the worst and most widespread thing an American institution of higher learning (or any American entity really) was involved in. The NCAA should have shut the AD down. Barring that, the University should have done it to preserve the integrity of Penn State as an academic entity. It didn't happen. Yes, there would have been community fall out. Innocent parties would have been harmed economically, and that's unfortunate. But I feel more than a little uncomfortable, especially in the wake of how many parts of that community have responded with such contempt for victims and such indignance at the scant punishment their AD received, that essentially a price has been put on what happened to those kids, and it was decided that price was too high. Attending Penn State is a good decision if the advantages of the education outweigh the association with institutionally enabled abuse of children. I fully understand and respect that you don't feel that the association is an endorsement of what happened. I'm not suggesting students/faculty/staff now are pro-child abuse. I am saying though that part of the deal with Penn State is that the association carries. For some it's already forgotten, for some it will be forgotten, for some it maybe never even mattered. For me, my belief is people didn't take what happened seriously enough. I don't understand why, there's a lot in the world I don't get, but I don't think they do. So my small part is to be very clear about what it is people are signing up for. To me, because of what did happen (the horrific crimes), what didn't happen (NCAA and PSU completely falling down), and what did happen (community lack of remorse), being associated with Penn State means being associated with child abuse. That is the first thing I think of when I hear Penn State. I don't know how many are like me. I hope it works out for your daughters. Straight up honest truth though - your family is associated with something I know you don't want. It's not the choice I'd make or recommend to anyone. I feel a weird, ineffectual responsibility to point it out. It's a dumb crusade. Oddly, it matters to me. I'm sure your daughters are living happy and healthy lives. If anything, being in the system, I hope they're making it better. And I hope they can milk everything they can out of that education, and never give a dime back to a corrupt institution. I just think overall it was and remains a fundamentally broken institution according to so many things that really matter. Good people deserve to be associated with something better. [/QUOTE]

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