How old is Dr. Ruth, anyway?
A lot has changed since the 72-year-old ventured off into the world of college. How much could she possibly know about college life today?
Surprisingly, a lot.
In “Dr. Ruth’s Guide to College Life: The Savvy Student’s Handbook,” Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer lends advice to students regarding select issues a student faces in college, usually for the first time. (While Pierre Lehu is also a co-author, his voice is never heard.) She covers all the basics: leaving home, roommates, dorm living, drugs, friendships, dating, entering the “real world” … oh, and sex. And as you can imagine, considering the psychosexual therapist’s reputation for speaking frankly about the matter, sex dominates the largest chapter of the book: “Sex: Need I Say More? Yes!”
And boy, does she say more — more than most people would care to know about the subject! If you’re looking for a book about sex, read a book about sex, not college life. In fact, she plugs one of her own books, “Sex for Dummies.” Try this if you’re desperate for Dr. Ruth’s sexual guidance.
Despite the single out-of-place chaper, Dr. Ruth demonstrates her fairly extensive knowledge of college life in the late 20th century, or early 21st century, as it may be. Although she may not have personally experienced everything she discusses in her book, she tells it as if she has. I felt as if she was retelling my experience with going to college, pinpointing exactly how I felt about each situation. Somehow, this woman knows what she’s talking about.
But that doesn’t mean her advice is necessarily worth taking. For example, how many times have you been told to “just say no” to drugs? Dr. Ruth, on the other hand, recommends making excuses for not succumbing to peer pressure to smoke marijuana: “You could say you have a cold … Or, since nobody is going to be closely watching you, you could just fake inhaling.” But what about being an adult? She says in order to be treated like an adult, you have to take responsibility for your actions. Certainly, excuses are not responsible.
Regardless, when it comes to relationships, she knows what she’s talking about. After all, besides sex, relationships are the matter she deals with most in her career. Her biggest piece of advice, which she mentions repeatedly, is to think of yourself as a turtle, “who needs to stick his head out sometimes.”
With all that in mind, remember that this book is not for everyone. Dr. Ruth does a good job of targeting high school seniors and college freshman, those who are starting out in a new world. But for those of you who already have a couple of years of college behind you, leave this book on the shelf.