High School And College
It's all up to you It's all over now. No more
strict teachers, no more guidance
counselors that tell you what is best for
you, no more restrictions; this all
happens when you graduate high school.
Once you throw that cap in the air, you
begin a new stage in your life that
will carry out for the rest of your future.
In college, you are now
becoming an individual and now you are responsible for
you own actions. High
school and college are very different and as incoming
freshmen, you think
that it's the same but the work is much harder. Well let's
get this myth
straightened out. The capacity of work does get much harder, but
other things
come along with the experience of college. Freedom is one of the
biggest
privileges that are given to you as a college student, and now it's up
to you
do know what to do with it. No one will be there to tell you what you
have to
do, whether or not you go to class, whether or not you are on time; it's
all
up to you. You are thinking, "well that's great", but what you
don't realize
is that for all of your actions there will be a consequence. As
freshmen, you
are vulnerable to the evils of freedom. This is when prioritizing
comes in
handy. You must realize what is important and what's not. The first
thing you
should have in mind is academics. Then the rest follows. In high
school
teachers were always behind your back and telling you what you had to
do.
They reminded you when an assignment was due and if you didn't do it
than they
would call your parents. They would extend their helping hand so
you could do
well in their course. They would go that extra mile for you.
They never let you
give up and they always believed that you could achieve
the goals of the class.
They gave you support and if you asked for help
they wouldn't deny you it. This
is what you are giving up and freedom is what
you are getting in return. In
college it changes in a dramatic way. You lose
teachers and gain professors. The
first day of class the professor hands out
a syllabus. By doing this, the
professor eliminates all the doubts and
possible excuse that a student might
give. "The homework is due today, I
thought it was due on Friday", you
will never use this excuse because it is
clearly stated on the syllabus. You as
the student know what is ahead and
must be ready to handle a course that is
demanding. You are responsible to
make sure that everything is handed in on
time. Professors don't attach
themselves to the pupil and this is one of the
differences between a
professor and a teacher. During high school you had to be
at school at a
certain time or you would have to face punishments such as
detention. If you
didn't go to class or school they would call your parents and
tell them that
you absent. In my high school they would mail out every month how
many cuts
or skips we had in all of our classes. If you had more than a certain
number
of absences, you would lose credit in that class. Everything was very
strict
and regulated. You are the one who chooses what is best for you while you
are
attending college. It's up to you if you go to class or whether you are
on
time. If you do you work, or if you skip class or if you study, these are
all
your choices. Most colleges don't keep attendance. If you don't go to
class, you
are the one missing out on the lesson not the professor. He
doesn't care as long
as you do what you have to do in order to survive in his
class. The professor
will not become irate with himself because of your
childish manners. It's up to
you to show that your parents, school, and
anyone that has surrounded you has
shown you what an etiquette behavior is.
Here is when prioritizing comes in
hand. First you have to realize that the
reason you are attending college is to
further you education. Also, you are
paying for a higher learning education so
you must take full advantage of it.
Therefore you must keep up your grades and
maintain a good overall grade
point average. Going to class is very important
because this is the place
that all of the learning takes place. If you are not
there in class then what
do you get out of it? College life means social life
because now you are
figuring out what kind of person you are and who you want to
become. Hanging
out with friends, going to the club/bar, going to play pool, all
seem very
important in your college life, but here is where you make the
decision. One
solution that I usually use is that first I finish all the work
that needs to
be done then I go out and dance until my feet fall off. As I come
towards the
ending of my freshmen year I must say that I have done well in all
aspects. I
now know that college means hard work and freedom. Put these two
together and
you have a problem if you don't find a way to separate these two
and realize
which one is important. I don't mean giving one up, I just mean
knowing when
to work and when to have fun. You can't let these overlap. The
first thing in
your mind should be academics because this is going to take you
the road of
success and glory, so take
care.