High School Compared to College

Upon attending college for about one month, I have found that I enjoy being a college student more than being a high school student. In this short amount of time, I have seen that more freedom is allowed to students in college than in high school as far as most of the important decision-making is concerned. Choices like schedules, attendance, and class selection are a few examples of how college is less restrictive than high school. Because of this educational freedom and having more control over my education, I find being a college student more enjoyable than being a high school student.

High school, through its control over many decisions that are made for students, seems to be more restrictive than college. Many aspects of the student's life are pre-set and cannot be changed by the student to fit his needs. For example, the student's time schedule is set every year. Every student must go the same amount of hours every year. In my case, I had to go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. every day, whether I actually needed all the time or not. I had to spend more time in some filler classes that I probably did not need to take but had to take to fill up my block of time. Another aspect of high school life that is restrictive is the mandatory attendance policy. In my high school, a failure to be in class for one day would immediately constitute a demerit and detention referral, unless a student arrived with a signed doctor's excuse. Such an attendance policy usually pulled students to class in fear of having to go to detention if they failed to attend. One final decision that is constrictive in high school is class choice. Class schedules for each year in high school are already set with the choice of electives being left to the student. In my high school, for instance, I had to take World History in my freshman year, followed by Government in my sophomore year, and finally American History in my junior year. All of these restrictions seem to inhibit the choices of the student more than in college and give students less decision-making in their educations.

College allows more freedom to its students than high school because of its deep belief in the student's active involvement in his own education. Many of the decisions are left solely to the student, allowing the student much more freedom than he held in high school. The time schedule for the college student, for example, can be