Compare and Contrast High School versus College

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Schooling is a very important aspect in our lives and one must go through many steps to gain a higher education. Two of these steps are high school and college. Although high school and college students aim for the same goal, which is acquiring an education and graduating, the demands, expectations, and social atmosphere extremely contrast. There are many demands placed upon high school students. For example, high school students are obligated, or rather forced by law to attend school until the age of eighteen and they are required to do and turn in their homework. Even if you fail a class, students are required to take that class over until they pass; students have no choice, they must do the work or go to summer school. They are required to be a full time student, which means they have to take the necessary classes each semester, which usually consists of six to eight classes. However, there are few demands in college. The number one demand in college is that a student must pay their tuition on time. College students possess the right to decide if they want to show up for class or not. They can fail a class and not make it up and they do not have to turn in their homework if they do not feel like it. There is no law stating that a college student must attend class, be a full time student, turn in homework and pass each class. To a college student, the demand of attaining a higher education or graduating is completely up to that person. Expectations are another difference between high school and college. Students are expected by society to graduate from high school, therefore stripping the need for knowledge and replacing it with a need for a diploma. In high school, one is expected to show up on time and is punished if they do not. Some high schools have a room called sweep, or something of that matter, for students that are unable to make it on time and are forced to sit in a chair and stare at a wall. Nevertheless, college expectations are not as strict. In college, students are not expected to graduate, but instead are projected to educate and better themselves with or without a diploma. The reward is a career, and doing what they desire in life. Distractions such as friends can have a major impact on a high school student’s ability to concentrate.

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