LU: You wrote “I’m not saying that no girl should go to college, but whichever choice she makes, it is crucial that she recognize that there are dangers to going to college and that it is something that it is better to avoid. But as with most things in life, each choice has chesronos and maalos, and one has to weigh all the factors before making a decision.”
Deciding to enter college is a major decision, and carries benefits and risks. Agreed. Who makes that decision? Is the individual responding to the seeking of advice someone reciting party line, or is it someone who knows the girl, the school, the subject matter, the environment, etc.? I also hesitate to say that college is better avoided. That assumes a lot, and is not factual. People need to pursue careers based on their assets and liabilities, not the political positions of the Chassidishe, Litvishe, and Yeshivashe spokespeople. That is not a responsible piece of advice, just as it would be incompetent for a doctor to treat someone without having evaluated all the relevant aspects of the patient.
What tells you, or anyone else, that the dangers of walking down Avenue J or M, 16th or 13th Avenues are so much less than going to pursue education on a college campus? The lack of tznius on these streets and others is alarming. From the other end, there are many options to pursue college careers without the need to frequent the campus environments that are truly a challenge.
I still believe the statement about the “ruchniyos outlook on life” is just a phrase that connotes nothing. It omits the level of someone’s true emunoh, and implies a very external, superficial concept of “ruchniyos” that really has little to do with Torah and Mitzvos.
Having said this, I must give a plug for something that has appeared on this site. We are too busy looking for what to “asser”, as if that is the stairway to true Avodas Hashem. Yes, we do have 248 Mitzvos Lo Saaseh, and the plethora of gezairos and takanos to protect us from violating them. But we are obsessed with this subject, to the terrible loss of addressing the real neshomoh of our existence, the emotional connection with HKB”H and our emotions of Ahavas Hashem and Yir’as Hashem. As long as we divert our energy to the persistent search of what to ban, we will have no resources to build up our inner strength to overcome Yetzer Horah.
This statement is broad, deep, and will cause some consternation. Yes, I am taking the wind out of the sails of those askanim looking for what to ban, whose names to place on Kol Koreh’s, and what to herald as the next target of fanatics. Yes, many college campuses are places that a Yid should think twice before entering. But the general topic is only seen as evil when generalizing, and not accounting for the specifics of a particular situation. Additionally, if we are busy bandaiding the public against the terrible yetzer horah that is nurtured by the environment of a college campus, and we are obsessed with banning smartphones (regardless of whether they are filtered), the yetzer horah will simply accommodate and divert his energies to other things. Yes, one can speak the worst of loshon horah on a “kosher” phone. The Bais Hamedrash should be the epitome of holiness, but is home to gaavah, talking during davening, and lots of other behavioral ills. Trying to places patches everywhere the yetzer horah can reside is a never ending battle, and he is the מלך זקן וכסיל that has a lot more experience. College is a certain degree of risk, but it is not the all over evil that requires such broad efforts to insure it is never seen.