Tuesday, May 15, 2007

tip for students

I know I'm way too young to give anyone advice for life, but I suppose I might give it a try at least. take it as you wish :)

as a student, everyone told me to enjoy my time as it would never come back to me. I never really quite understood what that meant, because life goes on, we mature and become different people and enjoy that. but now, when I've started working, I've realized what was meant.

I was never much into the student activities during my time at uni. they were mostly different parties here and some other stuff, didn't bother to spend too much time to find out what more there was. so why was the time as a student so special? what was it that I enjoyed?

one simple word: freedom. life as a student is so much different from working life, as you can very much set up your own schedule (with some respect to lectures and classes). that's not possible when working, as it's usually quite fixed working hours, with perhaps a little bit of flexibility.

as a student, I was able to make quite many trips to here and there, meet up with friends, do quite a lot of sports when it suited me, and take some time off when I needed it. with 5-6 weeks of vacation per year, there really isn't the same now.

nowadays it's not really possible to stay up or out for too long during weekdays. with work coming up the day after, it's usually time to say good bye at around 10-11, to be able to go home and sleep. that did not really happen as a student...

student life is of course about studying and preparing to become a person that can give back to society, as a way of worship:

"It is incumbent upon each one of you to engage in some occupation -- such as a craft, a trade or the like. We have exalted your engagement in such work to the rank of worship of the one true God."
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 30)

however, I think it is important to really appreciate the time and opportunities one has during that time. so what I mostly want to say, for those of you who are still reading this far, is to enjoy the freedom you have as a student, make up your own flexible schedule and really make the most out of it. because it might not come back in the same way again...

2 comments:

  1. hmm... well, I'm a student right now and i don't really feel like there is any freedom in my life. I always thought I would have my freedom once I started working.
    As a student, you pretty much "work" all the time. When you get home from school, you often have to keep studying. When you work, you have more freedom since you can do whatever you want when you get home.
    But on the other hand I think it's more fun to be a student. That constant learning is fun to me. And I do believe that you should make the most of it while you are studying, because it is sort of a special time of you life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes, that's true, I can definitely see your point. when I get home from work, I don't have to think about anything related to it (even though I do), whereas as a student one usually always has something to do.
    however, at least here in sweden, there very rarely is the need to spend more than 40h/week on studying, including lectures and such. the problem is just lacking discipline among the students, which makes them feel that they're doing a lot. by spending 8h a day on studying, just like work, I think it is possible to avoid all the stress that comes with being a student (exams, handins, essays, etc), and quite possibly go straight A all through... and then you'll be able to do whatever you want once you get back home.
    what I am trying to get at though, is that it is not absolutely necessary to spend these 8h a day between say 9-5, but you can dispose of your hours as you please. and if you for one day don't feel like studying, it's possible.

    ReplyDelete