As we get older, I think we all realize that we have an everyday morning routine that we must complete in order to start the day. Depending on who you are as a person, it can be as simple or as complicated at you want it to be. Being a type of person who likes to be consistent in their routines, here's mine: wake up, brush teeth, wash face, hair, make-up, get dressed, and oh, of course... think about dropping out of school. You see, recently, I have not been handed the greatest couple of weeks and it has made me question every single day why I continue to do it. Why do I continue to attend my classes and struggle? Why do I keep myself up until the early hours of the morning studying, only to see no results? Lately, these questions have been controlling my life and they lead to the route question of: Why don't I just quit?
Typically, I like to think that I am good at handling whatever stress I may be having, but as of recently, stress has been consuming my entire soul. It seems as though nothing I do is enough and I constantly wake up in the morning wondering if that will be the day that I just decide that college isn't for me. People do it everyday right? Drop out of college and find some odd job to make a "career" out of. Why can't I do that?
It sounds pretty dramatic, I'm sure. Why would you think about dropping out just because you are stressed. Well, you see, it's much more than that. When I get up in the morning and think about dropping out, it's not just because I am stressed. It's because I believe that college is designed to make us fail and I often don't believe in myself enough to think that I can do it.
When I say that college is designed to make us fail, I mean it quite literally. You graduate high school and then three months later you are thrown into a small room with a person whom you may have never met before, you are expected to find your way around an unfamiliar place, and address your superiors as 'Professor' or 'Dr.' instead of 'Mrs or Mr'. But that is actually the easy part! You're lucky if you get "syllabus week" or even get a syllabus at all. Nine times out of ten you dive right into the course work and trust me, it's almost as if you were thrown into the freezing cold Atlantic ocean and expected to tread water for 16 weeks.
You are thrown quizzes and exams, some without much notice, and you are expected to know the material forwards and backwards and be the best student you can be! But don't forget to get as involved as possible because college involvements and leadership roles look great on resumes. Make sure you take some time to have fun with friends because what's the point of going to college if, in ten years, you don't have stupid stories and memories to tell, right? Oh, and don't forget about your family back home. They still want to talk to you on the phone for hours at a time even though you have a club meeting in an hour, movie night when that's over and two exams the next morning that you aren't prepared for.
With all of that being said, how can you say that college isn't designed to make us fail? There are only 24 hours in a single day, and major depending, you may be spending anywhere between 6-8 of those hours in class. And for every hour that you are in class you should study three hours. Plus, everyone should get at least eight hours of sleep every night (yeah right!). Add in club/sport involvements and practices, time to eat, and stay social every single day of our lives is filled to the max. We aren't made to be "on the go" at all hours of everyday, but being in college makes us do exactly that.
So, why do I wake up everyday and think about dropping out? Simply speaking, because the amount of things I have to do everyday should be enough to make me quit. Not everyone in the entire world can have a college degree. It's designed to pick out the strong from the weak and it should tear you down limb by limb.
Why do I continue to push past those thoughts and go to my classes? Well, that's easy... because I know that one day, it will all be worth it.
