It seems as if, no matter where you are in life, people say that’s the time that will change you the most.

When I was in high school, they told me I would discover myself during some of the best years of my life. During my internship, they assured me the doors that were opening for me would permanently alter my perspective and career path. As a college student, it seems as though this is another block of time where I am going to be changed, presumably into the adult that I am supposed to be.

But how do we know we are in an environment that is providing us with the necessary components to become productive members of society? According to Arthur Levine’s "When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today’s College Student", there are four components to an undergraduate experience that are essential for a good education from a sociological perspective.

1. Hope

Having hope in regard to one’s future is extremely important. If your educational surroundings make you doubt your abilities to achieve success, whatever that word may mean to you, then your school is failing you.

Academic success centers, enrollment management offices, and tutoring options are a small number of the large amount of resources that should be available to students for the times when hope begins to dwindle. When a student loses hope in their path, they begin to question the worth of their education and, ultimately, themselves.

Being in an atmosphere where personal and academic achievements are focal points, feeling as if they are failing in those areas and it is severely detrimental to a student’s sense of worth. It is a college’s responsibility to challenge and educate those who have a clear path in life and help those who may be struggling along the way.

2. Responsibility

Being responsible for one’s words and actions is an important aspect of day-to-day life. It could be said that a portion of the conflict present in the world today is a result of individuals not taking responsibility for their actions and, perhaps more importantly, the consequences of their actions.

Instilling this principle into students at an undergraduate level creates a generation of students that think about their actions before they act or speak and are willing to take responsibility, good or bad, when the aftermath occurs.

In addition, responsibility is important for personal reasons. Take responsibility for your carbon footprint, your paper use, your water use, or your tendency not to do the dishes in your college apartment. Being able to recognize these issues and better yourself through them is a key part of responsibility.

3. Appreciation of differences

If there was one thing that past generations, namely current parents and grandparents, lacked in their education growing up, it was an appreciation of differences. By no means am I suggesting that we should all learn to hold hands and get along perfectly, although that would be ideal.

The problem that some seem to have is the moment someone else is different in regard to beliefs or appearances, they dismiss them. To be able to acknowledge when someone is different is not an appreciation of those differences. An appreciation of differences requires that you accept that they are different because they have the right to be different from you.

While you can do this by simply not outwardly or inwardly rejecting their contrary beliefs, it may be more beneficial to you to take the time to ask them why they believe in what they do. Why does someone dress differently than you were raised to believe they should? Why does someone from a different part of the country believe something different than where you are from?

Understanding and appreciation are achieved through civil communication and an acceptance that there is no right way.

4. Efficacy

Efficacy is the belief that your words or actions have the ability to make a difference in the world. Whether it’s something small, such as contributing an idea to a group project that makes it through to the final draft or being able to protest outside of Washington, a voice needs to feel like it matters.

If we raise a generation that speaks and acts out without change occurring, you are telling that generation that their actions don’t matter. You’re telling them they are not important enough to change the cause they are standing up for. Of course, there are limits to this theory.

For instance, not giving your child every item they want from a story after they throw a fit isn’t going make the child believe their voice doesn’t matter. However, there will come a point when the generation you see, the one gathering and protesting, when met with no reform, will come to realize that their methods are not working. In this event, they turn to two scary options: violence or silence.

As your social identity is largely formed during your time at college, I implore you to try to get the most out of it. Make an attempt to find these four things on your campus and better yourself and your classmates by either getting involved or getting it started with one.