2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

V o l u m e I V : F a l l 2 0 0 8
I l l u s t r a t i o n E s s a y
generalization that applies, regrettably, to the average scholar
is that their eating habits are somewhat lacking in the health
department. Whether this is because they have left home without
basic skills in the kitchen or their parents deem it a hassle to
cook for them does not change the fact that malnourishment
cannot help in the journey towards higher learning.
Life can be separated into sections, much like a pie chart or
blocks by their shape. For instance, social bonds can go in one
“stack” (friends, peers, love life), family should be given its own
section and education and work should be separated from each
other as well. The goal in college is, in fact, to reach a higher
standard of learning and so education must come before work
if at all possible. Going into college, students are informed by
peers and family of its difficulty and the level of commitment it
requires. They are not informed, however, that studying for each
class demands two hours for every hour spent in that one class.
Students graduate in the summer and begin college the
following fall, which leaves a very small window to adjust to
the new freedom and responsibility of being a graduate. Often
college freshman live in dorms and then are also faced with
feeding themselves, waking themselves up to make sure they
get to classes and making themselves study. Their parents
aren’t there to monitor their every move. Life becomes a vortex
of never-ending “go.”
Easing this down to something less frantic is fairly easy;
prioritize. It is far easier to keep to a schedule if it is written
down somewhere in plain sight than simply remembering it.
Homework must be treated with the same reverence; written
down carefully and kept track of. Due dates should be placed
in a table in chronological order and not strewn about in six
different notebooks or scraps of paper left on the counter or
backpack. School is the top priority.
Social status is less important in college than in high
school but it is not nonexistent. Although it is wise to dedicate
a considerable amount of time to studies, even the most
determined of students cannot be expected to work on
homework all day, every day. The attendance of the occasional
party is acceptable, and going to the movies or shopping with
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