If you are a graduating teenager, I want your thoughts on this especially. But this is also a question for the parents who have had to deal with college decisions for their young adults.
I worry about how a high school graduate feels afer they have completed 12 long and drilling years of school. Do you want to just take a break for a couple years before going to college? And if you do, will you ever be able to get back into the swing of things?
And for those who go right into college from high school, what do you say to the newcomer's that will help them begin their course of life easier? Are you glad you started right away?
My questions are presented to settle thoughts in my mind for my upcoming high school graduate. I know how important education is, and like many parents, I worry about the transistion from high school to college. Any input would be helpful.
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11-15-03, 03:45 PM
angela-cc
I think every graduate is an individual. There is no real stereotype. But I think it is most important for the student to study something that they will enjoy and use in life.
For some students, if they have had it easy in school, a break might be okay. But if they know what courses they will be taking, especially if they are harder, maybe it would be good to forge ahead so it will go easier for them, and what has already been learned will be fresh in the mind.

11-15-03, 05:13 PM
jusork
I'm just about to finish my first semester in college(after leaving high school last year). I found the transition extememly easy. I just see it as the next step and I felt ready to take it. It's still studying, understanding material, and going to class. It's not that different at all I think. The only difference is that I don't go home. I suggest just take it in stride, try to be comfortable, and focus on understanding the material and he should do fine.

11-16-03, 11:29 AM
LVLF
There is another side of collage life that I think is very important. Besides the academic part of school, there is also the important growth period that goes with that stage of life. We grow up in our parents house, live by their rules, hear their political and religious beliefs, etc. and grow up thinking they are our own. We do to some extent, begin to have our own views on life and all that goes with it in our teenage years, but I really think our true independence comes from the freedom of collage life, where the expansion of our mind has less boundaries. It's where we really discover who we are, as we stand alone from our families. It's where we are introduced to a world of possibilities that are new and unexplored.
I wish I had gone to collage, if for no other reason than to learn of a life outside my parents home. I went from my parents home, to my own home, with a husband and children, and nothing in between. Don't misunderstand, I love my family and would never trade them for the world, but I wish I had sampled the world for a few years first. Smile

11-16-03, 04:32 PM
jusork
I don't know, a lot of kids start having their own beliefs while under their parents. They start changing their thoughts as they start realizing there's more and they usually find it when they're young. That's how it was for me, my parents let me believe whatever(although there wasn't much talk of beliefs already). They just let me go. So college really isn't that different for me.

11-16-03, 08:36 PM
LVLF
jusork
I wasn't implying that parents don't allow children to form their own ideas or beliefs, or that children don't begin to form them until they are out from under their parents control. I understand that we all begin to form these ideas and beliefs while we are young, after all, that's what much of the struggle for independence at home is all about. Many of the arguments, stress and tension between parents and teenagers is a result of the search for that independence.
My point, however, is addressed to the stage of growth that goes beyond the home. Much of what teenagers rebel against are parents and the ideals and beliefs that we exhibit, and along with that goes the arguments, tension and stress.

I let my children 'believe whatever', however, that can often times lead to heated discussions. Collage life seems to to allow a certain freedom of expression that is not equaled at home. Of course there can be arguments just as heated at school with other students, that's normal. However, it is my belief that collage opens the door for young adults and helps to really broaden and expand their definition of who they are and what they believe.

[quote] That's how it was for me, my parents let me believe whatever(although there wasn't much talk of beliefs already). [quote]

I don't quite understand what you meant by this..(although there wasn't much talk of beliefs already)

11-16-03, 09:27 PM
jusork
I didn't mean parents held anything back. I just thought you were leaving off about all the ways we expanded our minds before college. By that quote, I meant my parents didn't talk about beliefs much with us so I was pretty free to figure out things on my own.

11-17-03, 07:44 PM
soaringhorse
Since he will be staying home while going to college, (I can't afford boarding due to being a single parent) he will still be under my wing. I have no problem with him staying with me and going to a nearby college, he will be able to drive there in only ten minutes. He still has one more year of regular school, so theres time to get him registered, its just a big step. I am worried about his attendance, he hates school, so I'm sure it's not going to be any picnic in college. He's a very brilliant kid, (not bragging, just stating) but doesn't apply himself like he could. He skims by without trying hard, doesn't really have to study real hard. I just wonder if he will be serious about this college deal. Its so important to get a good education, and I just wonder if its all going to work out. Parents want the best for their kids, so that when it comes to the real world, they will succeed in life. That's why I worry so much about this.

11-18-03, 09:15 AM
LVLF
Don't worry, although that's easier said than done. I think he'll find that it isn't quite like high school. Maybe part of his dislike for school is that it's not challenging enough, whereas collage might be more to his academic level.

11-18-03, 02:39 PM
samantha
I waited for a few years before I went to nursing school and i think it helped me alot. I know most of the ones I knew in school went directly into college so I guess its just whatever you feel is best for you.

11-19-03, 12:41 AM
Kirby Lynn
I'm just about finished with my first term of college and although I don't think I could have taken off time between graduating high school and starting college (I'd find it too hard to go back and get in the routine), there are times I wonder if college is really for me. I'm considering transferring schools next year though, maybe that might change my feelings. I'm one of those people who doesn't like feeling undirected or not led in any particular direction, and right now that's what I'm feeling.

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