College. It is a unique time -- a whirlwind of emotions. The college freshman finally has freedom: freedom from parents, from mandatory attendance hours, from overbearing adults. For once, a young adult is in the driver’s seat of his or her education path. They select their own classes, they choose their major -- only they can determine what they get out of it. They also have choices in how they spend their college time -- either in the library, at a bar, or some combination of the two.
All that leads us freshman to this point: what you get out of college is entirely based on what you put in. No, you can’t fail a class and ask mom to talk to a teacher, or skip class because you are hungover. Professors do not care. Keith Parsons, a professor of Philosophy at the University of Houston, put it this way, “I am not held responsible for your failures. On the contrary, I get paid the same whether you get an 'F' or an 'A.'” In high school, teachers were measured by our success. If 15 students out of 20 failed a class in high school, we would say it was the teacher’s fault. In college, we can’t blame our professors. They are facilitators of our quest for knowledge. One famous Southern quote says you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
The University does, however, have a responsibility. They must provide us with the tools needed to be successful. You would not ask a mason to make a foundation without giving him cement and bricks, would you? That means we must take advantage of the study labs, the office hours, and the resources provided within our own respective colleges.
If we look at our education as simply a degree, a return on our investment, we will get nothing out of it. In four years, we get a piece of paper, and we will most likely walk away thinking, “what did I do for the past four years?” In order to fully obtain all college has to offer, we must look at it like an overflowing fountain of knowledge and opportunity. College is the first time we are fully responsible for something, and our responsibilities only increase as we get older.
