“One of the hardest choices any young person has to make is ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ and history is like a great buffet lunch of all kinds of choices that people have made with what they did with their lives…”
David McCullough
The history of XX century has proved that education is not only a right choice for a young person, but also it is an essential part of success in life and career. Every field of modern life demands the educated specialists to solve different problems facing our society. Democracy itself is based on educational values and proves the old statement “knowledge is power”. People need this power in order to decide what values are true for them and what are false, rather than blindly follow social convictions or someone else’s believes.
When people grow older, they become wiser and more experienced in many issues related to their life. Most of us acquire knowledge at the school of life, which is different for everyone in particular, but at the same time it teaches all people some important lessons they need to learn. College is like a small reproduction of the school of life. It teaches us many important lessons, which are not necessarily found in the curriculum. In a way, college reminds me a survival camp, except that it doesn’t have physical trials, it tests only psychological, emotional and personal spheres of our life. That’s why I believe that going to college is an important step for growing as an individual.
Perhaps, today some High school graduates assume that college is only about scientific and academic achievements, and therefore they find it boring and useless. Well, in a way it’s an absolutely fair assumption. At college they teach curriculum that’s not always applicable in our practical experience. However, there is another perspective, which I suggest to consider: college years will become the period of empowerment of your imagination, development of your skills, expression of your creativity, formation of your personality and finding your true self.
One of the distinguished features in the American education system is that, unlike in any other country of the world, it promotes and encourages creative and independent thinking among its students by means of interactive projects and activities. Besides, there are some practical issues to consider. First of all college provides the perfect training to achieve one’s career ambitions. Usually its academic program is quite flexible to provide students with options for choosing the best curriculum. Besides, there are many interactive programs that allow participation in special activities aimed to give more deep knowledge and experience in a chosen area of interest. Thus, college life is not as boring as it might seem, especially when one is occupied with the activities that he or she really enjoys doing.
Education in college does not stop at the classroom, but rather continues through internships and extracurricular activities. Besides, there is a great emphasis on teamwork and technology, reflected by numerous exciting courses and programs. Thus, college helps to strengthen both the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills necessary to secure a position in a reputable company.
Of course, there will be life outside of the curriculum. And while it’s fun and entertaining, it also is a very useful experience in facing and resolving life issues. Everyone, who enters college, starts a new life that looks like a blank piece of paper. Whether one was a jerk or too shy, college gives everyone a second chance to become someone different, someone he or she always dreamt to become. It’s a power of freedom to become someone new or someone true. This chance opens many interesting roads, but there is only one to chose.
Commitment to another five years of studying is not an easy choice and it’s perfectly fair to question the meaning and sense of going to college. There are many examples of successful people who quit the college or never went there and nevertheless managed to succeed. However, it’s just a theory of probability, since we don’t know much about people, who quit the college and didn’t become successful. Perhaps, there are a lot more of them. Perhaps, college education is just the insurance for the future success, but this insurance may one day become your lottery ticket.
