by Joan Inong

Created on: April 22, 2009

College is a place that offers endless opportunities. It is, most especially, a place where people learn to become independent. For some, however, leaving parents can be a difficult and often heart-sickening journey. But, leaving parents at home is beneficial in this case because college offers an independent experience.

There are two kinds of people who enter college. One kind is already independent from his or her parents. This person has already had a few jobs, has had to pay a few bills, and, in short, has learned to live away from home. This person can go days and sometimes weeks without having a thought about his parents. Of course, this doesn't mean that he doesn't care for them. He has only learned to live apart from them. The other kind of person is dependent of his or her parents. This person has not spent more than a day away from home. This person is the one who will have some difficulty adjusting to college life.

The independent person will learn other things from college besides independence. College will only serve as a means to the way this person has been living already. But for the dependent person, college signifies a life that is lived outside of the home. It means meeting new people, interacting in new places with new people, and living by one's self, especially if one is living on-campus.

But, this does not signify a negative experience for the soon-to-be independent person. This only means that he has to adjust to this new mode of living, in which he has to find other outlets that will soon signify a "new home" for him. So, this might mean engaging in organizations, clubs, or sports, or participating in student government, or just making many new friends.

Independence is not only a socially-loaded term, but also describes the way in which one conducts one's life separate from other people. Being independent means that you have learned to make your own decisions. It is up to you, now, to make both moral and lawful decisions. It also means taking care of business.

College should definitely be seen as a home away from home. It should not mean a negative place to where one dreads to go back. College offers one of the best experiences that one will have. It shapes you as a person, and opens your eyes and mind to find out more about you. It shows you how you have grown up, through the decisions that you make and the way you interact with others.

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