We have all seen those movies about a student at college and his or her adventures through partying, discovering who they are and making their plans for the future, yada yada. In reality, let’s be truthful here, college is not a fantasy like those movies make it out to be. As I have had time to relax during my summer break, I'm taking into consideration all the statements towards college students from adults and children that I have heard these past few weeks. Many statements are about jobs, money, social atmospheres, etc. People should take into consideration that college students all have different stories and ways of life. And yes, we may a couple of times fit into a stereotype, but don't keep us permanently there.
Students are generally lazy. Yes and no. Yes, we do like to sleep and spend time having Netflix marathons but we do it between our breaks of hardcore studying for the bio exam we have two days from now. Some of us work and some of us don’t, but you have to recognize the different academic workloads each student has. Our workloads keep us up late during night equaling naps during the day and the desire for sleep.
Students like to party and socialize. Yes and no. You would be surprised to hear that only about a quarter of students actually go out and party and even then only on the weekends. Students do like to socialize and one is able to see it in different areas. For instance, a group can socialize by having a study room together. Or students go out late at night for a Wawa run to make their day to day schedules a little different. You could walk past different rooms and see a group of guys playing video games on the floor and another room a group of girls would be watching a movie. Socializing is different with a diverse set of people at each college.
Students spend their money recklessly. Agree to disagree. Spending five dollars at Wawa at one in the morning to give us energy for another three hours of studying. Or some weekend, once in a while, we go into the city and have an adventure and become tourists again. Mostly the money that we have is spent on food that is different from the same ole Dining Commons food we get every day. And yes there will be random shopping sprees here and there for those fall necessities and summer bathing suits.
Students can be unhealthy. Again, you may be surprised that the salad line is always long, boys usually have vegetables on the plates, an apple in someone’s hand as they walk to class, and many water bottles in the recycling bins. Those many words that moms have ingrained into our heads to eat healthy have actually worked. We eat pretty healthy…except for those late night snacks of mozzarella sticks or Insomnia Cookies.
Students would rather have fun than be studying. True. But we do know that education is super important so we will do all it takes to pass these courses. If that means an all-nighter or studying in library for twelve hours then that is what we will do. We complain a lot about our workload, joking about how we should drop out, but in reality we learn something new each day and we know it will help us in the future.
We care about our futures, our families, our health, our money, our friends and college. There will be some that disagree with all of the things mentioned above but just recognize that every student is different and because you judge one does not mean you should judge all based on that. Overall, college is super stressful but totally worth it. Lifelong friends and education is a result worth those long hours of no sleep in the library.
