Revision Final Draft

Raymond Rambarose

Dr. Carrie Hall

Eng 1101

Publication: The New York Times Opinion Section

Just Try: College Isn’t too Hard For You

The statement that “the transition from high school to college might be difficult” is a huge understatement for me. It might be for you as well. I went from almost failing high school and thinking that college was going to be a breeze to dreading having to go to class every day. One day I decided to take a step out of my paranoid mind and saw things for how they really were. College wasn’t as bad as I had thought it was. I was risking more by not going. I had to at least try it before I judged it. Yes, college is hard, but it is not too hard for you.

When you hear the word “college” what do you think of? Some may think of college as being a gateway to many opportunities. Others may think that it is not worth the time, stress and effort. Based on my college experience I have held both views. In high school I didn’t take it very seriously. I was very laid back and procrastinated frequently. When I was at my final years of high school I rarely went to class and when I did it would only be for about a day or two a week. I didn’t understand the point of going to high school and learning all this useless stuff. I did not realize that high school was my preparation for college and school is what you make it. While reading the article “Learning (Your First Job)” I found that Robert Leamnson has some pretty good points about school and learning. He states that “…learning is not something that just happens to you, it is something that you do to yourself” (1). He also says that “…you do want to learn something while getting a diploma” (1). From this information I take away that you must be willing to learn in order to do so and you need to be engaged in the journey in order to get to the destination. Yes, we might not agree with all the things that you have to learn in school, but enjoy the things that you have been interested in while in school otherwise you will be stuck in the position of wondering what it is all for, like I and many others have done. High school isn’t there just for doing tasks and getting grades. It is to prepare you for college. It is there for you to learn how to learn.

So, what is learning how to learn and how does this have anything to do with college? Well, when I first entered college I was overwhelmed with work and would overthink the simplest tasks. This reflected my high school performance. Since I didn’t attend high school very often, I did not have the experience of a school environment. I didn’t have the drive or study practice that would transfer from grade to grade. I was so focused on the useless information being taught that I did not realize what mattered most. It may sound simple, but just practicing doing work in general is very important. When you don’t do your school work for a long while you start to get too comfortable. Everything is fine until you are presented with a task. You are very capable of doing that task, but are forced out of your comfort zone and into uncharted/abandoned territory. By simply going to school and getting into the habit of completing tasks you are more well off than someone who hasn’t. I know that I’ve been talking a lot about high school, but learning and practicing learning doesn’t stop with high school. It travels through college and life afterwards as well.

Speaking of learning, you don’t just learn your basic subjects in school. You learn, or in another word, gain certain important skills such as social skills. While in school you have to communicate with others frequently. Some people do not agree with this view that school can help build these skills. While reading the article “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto he makes a claim that accurately displays this view. He states that “… if children could be cloistered with other children, stripped of responsibility and independence, …they would grow older but never truly grow up” (5). In Gatto’s claim he talks about children being “cloistered” up with others and how this is bad. From my perspective, that “cloistering” is just students grouping up which is very beneficial. When children are put together, they share ideas from different perspectives, build communication and leadership skills. While in seventh grade I had to do a group project about volcanoes. I was always the quiet type and didn’t speak much out of my circle. As my classmates and I were doing the project we shared many different ideas from different perspectives. It was much more efficient than doing it alone and it helped me to practice talking to new people, just like you would as an adult in society. This experience also helped me with leadership skills at the time because everyone recruited me to lead the presentation, which I was very nervous about. I pushed myself through it and found out that it wasn’t so bad. I do not know where I would get this practice if I wasn’t in school at the time. So, it turns out that school is pretty beneficial, but why do we still not enjoy it?

We might not enjoy something because it is outside of our normal routine. When we are not used to something, we might be uncomfortable. You can combat this through practice. Just attending class and doing your work increases how comfortable you are in a college environment. Robert Leamnson builds on a concept similar to this buy saying “In short, neural circuits that get used become stable, those that do not get used fall apart. …Without rehearsal, that fantastic circuitry that enabled our understanding will gradually disintegrate and we can no longer reconstruct what we once understood” (3). I believe that the same thing applies to college. When we haven’t consistently taken classes or done assignments, we might get used to not doing them. Afterwards, a task in school might seem more foreign to us that before. If you are uncomfortable switching environments don’t panic. Just try and through practice you will get use to it. That is one mistake that I made during college. I was so comfortable with the way things were at home and suddenly, I was ripped away from my relaxing life to go to school fulltime. I would worry about every aspect of class to the point that I wouldn’t go at all. Eventually I had taken too many days off and was afraid of my professor confronting me and the work that was piled up waiting for me. I ended up lying to my family that I was going to college, but instead I would go to the building and sit down trying to build up the courage to go to class. I did this for one semester and at the end I confessed to my parents what I had done. I then went for my second semester and did the same thing all over again. I tried to apply for jobs, but wasn’t accepted by any employers. I was on the verge of being kicked out of the house because I wasn’t going to school and didn’t have a job. Thankfully, my mother drove me to her friend’s house for her to talk to me. I’ll never forget the words that encouraged me. “Just try, don’t quit before you even try”. Those are the words that I have to say to you as well. Just try, and before you know it, that trying will become your normal and comfortable routine.

Also, don’t be afraid if you make mistakes. In college there is more room for error than outside of college life. It’s not the end of the world. Just learn from them. As I read the article “The Importance of Dumb Mistakes in College”, Jim Reische restated a quote that is very accurate to this. He says, “Miles Davis left behind a quote that I think captures the beauty of a world in which mistakes are natural or even valued: ‘It’s not the note that you play that’s the wrong note-it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.’ Our children deserve the opportunity to play the music for themselves” (3). Basically, don’t worry about the mistake or what’s in the past. Make the right decisions moving forward in both college and life.

Well, you’ve heard a small portion of my story. I’ve messed up and made the same mistakes repeatedly, but after I just tried and put a little effort into college everything has been running smoothly. I know that there will be bumps in the road, but I’ve been through a lot and it all shows me just how capable I really am. If I apply myself even more, I can be even better. The same goes for you. College and life as a whole may hold uncomfortable experiences, but if you don’t at least try you won’t know how amazing you are as well. Learn how to learn, practice and don’t quit before you try and you will succeed.

 

Works Cited:

Reische, Jim. “The Importance of Dumb Mistakes in College.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/09/opinion/sunday/dumb-mistakes-college.html.

Against School – John Taylor Gatto, www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm.