college students feel overwhelmed by their lives at some points in the semester. Who wouldn’ t be sad if, just a few years prior, they were doing well in school and had a good balance between school life and social life and now, all of a sudden, they’ re under the impression that school is the only thing they should give their energy to and focusing on anything else will completely ruin their future?
Of course, society isn’ t the only thing that makes college a sad place for students. There are aspects of college that are genuinely stressful and sad-inducing. For example, some professors create ridiculous syllabi. Enforcing the idea that a person needs to attend every single class and never skip, they make it virtually impossible to for their students to miss their classes. There are many ways in which this is shown, but one example in specific is how Courtney Spratlin, @ CourtneySprattt, tweeted that she missed a test due to illness, and the professor said that she should have planned ahead because that’ s what it says to do in the syllabus. Illnesses are obviously not able to be planned ahead, yet this idea is shared by many college professors, not just that one. Additionally, expenses from college are a huge reason for sadness among students. With the average cost of education being far more than any person should be expected to be able to afford, students often need to take out many student loans, which will hang over them for their entire lives. It’ s hard to be happy when one is already stressed from coursework, and on top of that all they’ re given the reminder that they’ ll most likely be in debt – due to that same stressful coursework – until they die.
With these sad aspects of schooling, there are also good feelings that education brings. As I previously mentioned, children look forward to the freedom that comes with college. Even though this freedom can often induce sadness due to the responsibilities that come with it, it still can also bring happiness to people. From personal experience, I know that having this, in a sense, limitless freedom has brought me great joy. The responsibilities are too much
at times, but I love being able to choose whichever classes I like, and I love the ability – with
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