Leaving the comfort of a small town where everyone knows everyone in your school to go to college to start all over again can take a toll on a young adult. I am able to pull out my senior class photo, and put a name to each face of every person I walked across the stage with. After walking down the hallways you have spent the last four years in, you realize you were so close to all your friends because you were able to relate to the part of life you were all in together.Not everyone I graduated with choose to go to college right after high school, or stay home to commute to the community college. Three relationships in my life, including two of my best friend Lacey and Paige, and my boyfriend Alec was affected by the restriction of money, time, and interests that my decision to go to college has created for me . Lacey has been one of my best friends for about three years now. She made the choice to attend the Tech program at our high school; this program allows you to gain certification in certain job fields. She chose to go into the field of cosmetology. With her full time working as a cosmetologist and my full time in school making time for each other can be very difficult. Even with going to school only two days a week, having loads of homework really cut down on the amount of time I am able to spend with friends. She wants to go out during the week, but I am unable to join her because of homework or that I have to get up the next day for early classes. The amount of time I spend at school leaves me limited in the ability to work many hours an acquire money to spend on things other than gas and school. It tends to put strain on our friendship; I am not able to spend as much money on going out to eat or weekend shopping tri... ... middle of paper ... ... make sure that we spend our money evenly, and keeping common interests with one another. On the last day of high school, I had so much hope for staying in touch with the other students I had spent twelve consecutive years together with. I may not have been able to stay in touch with everyone, but I tried my best to make sure I stayed close to my two best friends Lacey, and Paige and also with my boyfriend Alec. Making the transition into college on your own can be difficult, but attempting to keep the relationships you have had for years can also cause trouble. From comparing the three relationships I have, I believe strongly that the friendship I have with Paige and the relationship I have with Alec will last throughout college. The transition into not only college, but adult life can be difficult, but with great people by my side I believe I will be successful.
Let’s face it, some people learn in high school and others, well, have to learn to learn. Some of us need to experience the beast of real life before we truly understand the importance of education. Liz Addison wasn’t a scholar by a country mile in her youth. She touches on this in her article “Two Years Are Better Than Four” as she states, “On a score of one, I left school hurriedly at sixteen.” It wasn’t until later in life that she understood the importance of academics. Community college was there when she came calling like a farmer’s dependable workhorse. Community colleges are where the rubber meets the
Going away to college is a great way for people to meet new friends and experience new things. Usually a setting unlike their home will help them with both of these experiences. While this may not be true for everyone, I believe everyone should try living in an area unlike his or her own. This is what develops a person intellectually and socially.
Much like art, and literature a play has a message to communicate to the audience. In the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder the overall message that is being sent is that people often take life for granted and often don’t appreciate the smaller details so we should learn to appreciate them. He implies one thing that is taken for granted is the connections we have with others. Wilder even uses great detail to have the reader understand that. He also uses the theme of cycles that are easily understood and often relatable, the first being daily life, the second being love and marriage, and death to create a connection for the audience. He also uses tool such as a Stage Manager to clearly present those ideas while at the same time allowing a connection between the audience and the play. The stage manager is also a character without bounds and so Wilder takes advantage of that by allowing the use of flashbacks to clarify ideas. With these tools Wilder has the ability to allow the audience to understand a clear message and appreciate life.
Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, is appreciated by its audience as a result of its recognition and popularity. Along with the play’s acknowledgment and praise some people have even recognized it as the greatest American tragedy. However, Stephens’ article, “Our Town -Great American Tragedy?”, has challenged this claim. Also, in this article, Stephens makes arguable claims on the effectiveness and the tragic nature of Wilder’s play. Furthermore, Stephens’ argues that there is a weak emotional connection between the play and the audience and minimal depth in the characters. Still, the depth of the characters and cathartic moment in Our Town capture the tragic nature of the play.
Children who grow up in small towns often desire nothing more to leave the place they are confined to. Everything is remarkably mundane, strikingly predictable, and they yearn to feel the thrill of the unexpected that living in a city provides. However, there are key life lessons one can only experience in a small town. With just over 4000 inhabitants, one cannot make a trip to any store without meeting two, or ten, familiar faces. Constant interaction makes a person uncomfortably friendly. They are willing to talk to anyone sitting on a bus, waiting in line, or standing in a bathroom. In addition, these circumstances foster a trusting nature. In fact, there are few people in a small town that could not be trusted. Of course, the trust and friendliness allowed for a lot of freedom as a child. Parents never thought twice about allowing a child to venture out with friends or spend hours running around playing make-believe. Children have to supply their own entertainment, only increasing the independence they have. While they spend their lives wishing to get out of that town, they grow up to realize how it truly impacted the person they have
The main point to Caroline Bird’s article is that college has never been able to work its magic for everyone (15). I totally agree with this statement. Many of the high school graduates today are not mature enough to attend college immediately out of high school. Since they have been in school for thirteen years, students are thinking of some “me” time after graduation. They are not ready to settle down in a serious academic environment. My oldest daughter graduated from high school in the spring of 2009 then attended her first semester of college the following fall. She dropped out after her first semester because college was harder than she thought. She was working part-time in addition to going to school full time. There was always an outside distraction to keep her from her studies. Her grades were positive proof that students must be serious about college to gain something from attending to college.
College has a extensive impact on a person that some people simply don’t realize. When I first started college, I was a little close-minded and unsure about what it was I wanted to do with the rest of my life. When I was halfway through my freshman year, I decided to completely change my path in life. I left ECU, moved into an apartment, transferred to Pitt and declared my major intended sonography. Then suddenly I hated what I was doing, I had to take a step back and truly evaluate my life and what it was I was meant to do. I was completely lost. Then one day I received a text from a friend telling me to apply to a hospital located in Chesapeake, Virginia. I did, and I got the job. When I told my parents they were less than thrilled, they didn’t like the idea of me taking a year off from school to work, but I thought long and hard about what was best for me and decided it was something I was meant to do, it was the path I needed to follow. I worked for a year while living at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. I was completely independent, providing for myself 100 percent. While working this job, I realized that what I wanted to do and what I was called to do in life was become a nurse, which is something I would have never figured out had I not seriously weighed my options
First of all, many high school graduates cannot handle college. Isabel V. Sawhill and Stephanie Owen describe college as a place, “one can obtain a traditional four-year bachelor’s degree”. The work load outside of the classroom could be compared to working a full time job. For example, if a student is enrolled in four college courses and is in class a minimum of four hours the student should spend at least four to six hours of studying. This may be extremely agitating and stressful to a student that is not good at studying. The new college student may realize that the schoolwork is too much for him to handle and instead drop out. In Pharinet’s blog post, Is College for Everyone? He states that “…it is estimated that in the U.S., approximately 50% of students who begin college never graduate. There exist students who are not yet ready for the academic and financial challenges of college. There exist students who do not have the desire for college or learning.” This statement is important because if 50% of students that begin college never gradua...
Living and growing up in a small town is better than doing so in a big city.
According to Emily Driscoll from foxbusiness.com, the competitive nature of college and new expenses are major factors that bring extra anxiety to new students. Many students are not just looking to go to the nearby home university; some have aspirations to get into the Ivy League or top medical schools and law schools which present extreme competition to simply get in the door (Driscoll, E.) Excelling in high school socially and academically is easy compared to college so the challenges of what to expect will have students feeling the stress just anticipating it. The process of leaving home includes leaving that social support of the family being there in house, adding personal responsibilities that involve changes to daily routines. There are so many more distractions in college that make it harder to focus and have priorities in the proper order (Driscoll, E.) Elizabeth Scott from stress.about.com notes how with...
Even though we know that “college is the best thing”, why we drop out of college? That fact is that we drop out from the college for many reasons. We sometimes drop out of the college because of bad friendship. For example, my brother’s friend was just 19 years old and he dropped out of college only because he wanted to fit into a group that was bigger than him. As a result of this, he wanted to be seen as “cool,” but that wasn’t all.
One of the things that can cause a significant change in someone’s life is moving. If you are moving far enough away that you will have to go to a different school, it will cause even more of a significant change. You would have to leave your friends and family that lived near you. Although it would be sad, many new opportunities would open up and you could start a new life. Moving can be hard for a lot of people. They might have to leave their best
Throughout most of my life I have gained friendships and relationships with others that have turned into long term, but others which only lasted a short while. The friendship that has greatly impacted my life significantly over the last eight years is someone who means so much to me. This meaningful friendship all started back when I was in middle school, which has grown stronger over the years. I met Brooke in middle school because we had some of the same classes and were in homeroom together. Our friendship developed quickly and lasted throughout our high school years. We became really close our Junior and Senior year of high school. But, maintaining our friendship hasn’t always been so easy. Today, we text and call each other on our free time, but I know I can count and rely on her when I need someone to talk too. I call her my second sister and vice versa. And when we go home on breaks we see one another as much as we can. The best part of our relationship is that if one is in need of advice or in need of a shoulder to cry on, we are always there for one another. Keeping in contact is very important in our relationship and communication has played a key role in our relationship.
College, despite often being shown as a great dream place where successful people are made, is not designed for everyone. Because of that image many people paint about college, children have those thoughts pushed into their minds that they need to go to college. But for many, they don't want to go for a multitude of reasons and as a result, it is often said that, "we are forcing hundreds of thousands of kids to go to college and they clearly do not want to be there"(Rubiner). Many kids don't feel comfortable leaving home, possibly moving to another state, surrounded by people they have never seen before, causing them to feel homesick. In addition to this, they have to make brand new friends since they no longer have their old ones, and have no family to rely on to help them. On top of just these social problems, the college education system could be very different from the schooling they were used to. Between having larger classes reaching over 50 students per class and having to learn a completely brand ...
If you miss home within the first few weeks of school, whatever you do, stick it out and stay at school for at least the first month. The first month is the time where everyone establishes their group of friends. I wrote a poem called “Friends till’ the End” which discusses how to make friends in college that will last a lifetime. I learned that the first month of school is the most critical and optimal time to establish a group of friends. As one of my stanzas