[DeltAlum]

Swissmiss,

First, are you talking about orientation, or a campus tour for high school students who are considering coming to (name that school)? The latter is what I think this thread is meant to be about.

I gotta tell you that if you're talking about campus tours, it really ticks me off. As a parent, I have EVERY RIGHT to be comfortable with the school I am sending my 17 or 18 year old off to -- in terms of academics, attitude, social life, safety and other things. That's especially true if I'm paying for it.

As for trust and being grown up and ready to make their own decisions -- read the risk management thread and tell me that all of the 18-20+ years olds are old enough to make their own decisions and take care of themselves. Obviously, some (I'll even say most) are, but a lot of others aren't. Besides, those tours can happen anywhere from the end of sophomore to end of senior year in high school. Some of those kids are 16 and 17.

If you ever become a parent, you also may realize that you want to have a mental picture of the place that your offspring is spending his/her time. It's a way of staying close and being comfortable. You don't just magically cut the cord emotionally when that 18th birthday comes along.

It's entirely possible that a parent who has a college degree just might know a bit more about what questions to ask than someone with absolutely no experience in higher learning. Hey, when our oldest daughter changed schools/major and went out of state (to my and Mrs. DeltAlums Alma Mater), her orientation and class scheduling was the day before classes began, and she had a lot of trouble with a certain department. Because I know the chairperson of the department and the Dean of the Honors College (at the time I was President of the Colorado Chapter of the Alumni Association), she was able to set up a schedule and got all of her previous courses accepted -- something the Asst. Director of the school wasn't going to do. In fact, he wasn't going to accept any of them. So, she would have spent the first week of the quarter just trying to get registered for classes, and it would have taken four more years to graduate instead of two. I know she was pretty happy that I was there.

Finally, the tour guides who have answered above are saying that tours are terrible if the participants don't ask questions -- and you're taking parents who do to task. I'm sure some parents ask dumb questions or act inappropriately -- but so do some students. But wait, what's the old line about their are no dumb questions? Only dumb answers? Maybe you see parents who don't have a college degree and are really anxious to understand what their student will be doing for those next several years.

A little comfort for them is not too much to ask and expect.

Putting the soap box back in mothballs now...and feeling a lot calmer.