Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id QAA18759 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 26 Jun 2001 16:18:36 +0100 From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Fwd: MIT student's death ruled suicide Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 11:21:27 -0400 Message-ID: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAKEFACEAA.debivort@umd5.umd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <993565874.3b389cb2c6fd9@www-th.phys.rug.nl> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Please do not jump to the conclusion that suicide rates are high at all
elite US universities: you will find MIT and Harvard may be the current
exceptions. Among the other top half-dozen universities, Duke's and
Stanford's are negligeable. Don't know about Yale and Princeton. Also you
may wish to look at the sizes of the student population, and at non-elite
universities, and indeed at that age-bracket, generally. Given the
statistical reality that random events cluster, there may be a lot less to
this than initially meets the eye.
Having drawn those cautions, as competitive performance-oriented societies
one might not be too surprised to find higher suicide rates generally in the
US and Japan. What other countries might we characterize as
performance-oriented? Israel? Singapore?
- Lawrence
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Philip Jonkers
> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 10:31 AM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Fwd: MIT student's death ruled suicide
>
>
> Suicide-rates high at USA's elite universities. Interesting stuff
> again Wade. I know of no suicide cases here in Holland. Perhaps
> the pressure to achieve is just set too high at elite US universities.
> As a result of exposure to too high expectations these stresses
> may have generated motives to commit suicide.
> The memetical properties to make them successful memes, fidelity
> and fecundity, may have increased further once suicides
> actually started to occur. A frightful doomsday scenario.
> I wonder though how elite universities at other nations fare.
> Anybody any suggestions or info?
>
>
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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