Lesson 1 Reading Selection

College is What You Make It

Maria Loreto T. Capuno
Congratulations! You’ve just finished your High School years, and said
goodbye to many of your childhood friends, with promises to stay in touch.
Now, you’re about to experience another phase in your young life: the
challenge of going to college!
Of course, I’m sure that you’ve given much thought to what you’d like
to get into. Perhaps, Mathematics, Engineering, Literature, or Music.
Whichever path you’ve chosen to go into, one thing is for sure: you need to
develop certain skills in order to achieve success in this new phase in your
life.
Going to college is not simply a matter of deciding on a program and
settling for a particular university or college. After such decisions, you now
have to deal with the nitty-gritty of college life.
Are you aware that about a third of college students fail to graduate
within the expected program time frame? Some reasons given for failure are
lack of maturity, teenage pregnancy, early marriage, financial difficulties,
lack of motivation, and poor life skills among others. The strategies given
below may help safeguard you against many of the causes of failure which
prevail in college life.
First of all, college life demands that you know yourself more. Why? It’s
because
you may be asked to create your own class schedules. Are you an early riser
and a morning person? Or would you prefer to take on a part- time job and
go to class at night?
Also, you must have a strong sense of self-discipline. Since vacant
periods are a given in college life, and with entertainment possibilities in just
about every street corner, it just seems too easy to give in to temptation: the
call of the mall. This is where your time management comes in. Are you so
busy with the unnecessary things that you can’t even attend to what’s
essential? Or are you overstretched in terms of finding time for each and
every little thing you want to accomplish? Or do you laze about all day and
generally avoid doing any tasks at all? Or perhaps you have such a good
listening ear for listening to others’ problems that you hardly have enough
time to attend to your own. You may even be so accommodating that you
feel a sense of
obligation to chat with everyone who passes by. Or are you a slave to your
mobile phone that you seem to accomplish nothing but to answer texts all
day and night?
To have staying power in college, you must also practice a certain
degree of tenacity, which is the ability to hang on. You must also stay
focused on your goals and determined on your success. Otherwise, what is
there to hang onto?
 Gone is the homogeneity of your classmates in the basic education
years. Along the way, you will be meeting so many different kinds of people
from all walks of life. Your fellow students may be of a different nationality,
language or religious belief. You must practice maturity as well as level-
headedness alongside with discernment and self-control.
Priorities must be set and certain parameters followed for you to be
better organized in terms of reacting effectively to the various attractions
and distractions of college life. There may be times when you may have to
choose between the values learned at home and popularity among your
classmates. Or you may feel pressured into trying out something over the
edge, such as drugs, as some sort of rite of passage. Even indulging in sex
could be from peer pressure, because “everybody is doing it.”
Next, you have to determine your study habits. You could be one of
those students who learn best by first taking notes on a scratch paper in
class and then rewriting them at home. Alternatively, you could be one who
prefers to create an audio record of what the professor is saying, for
transcribing later. Or, you could be one of those who learn best by simply
trying to figure out the relationships of the various components. During
homework time, either you prefer to work in a quiet corner, or with music
playing in the background. You may also prefer studying your notes late at
night or upon waking up at dawn; either way would be preferable to
cramming on your commute to classes.
Of equal importance is the ability to listen to the professor’s instruction
with respect to turning in coursework. You probably wouldn’t want to be like
many a student who failed in class only because he or she failed to listen
with attention, therefore turning in a completely different project from what
the instructor had specified.
Aside from the ability to listen well, you must also do a bit of self-talk,
in order to remain in touch with yourself and your feelings, as well as to
motivate yourself. Self-talk is vital but often neglected in relation to self.
Still some students merely lack focus. Due to lack of drive to succeed,
students may fail to maximize their time and energy for study-related
activities. Instead of staying at the school library to read, you hang out at the
local mall needlessly, depriving yourself of a good education. Or, you spend
hours and hours in front of the television, with no particular show to watch,
mindlessly pressing the remote. Or you know you’re supposed to be
researching on the internet, but catch yourself thoughtlessly surfing, page
after webpage.
The time to focus on your education is now, when you’ve just started
college. Quit wasting your energy on the unnecessary. Time and energy
wisely spent now will equate with a sound education later, and that could
give you better leverage when it’s time for you to start your dream career.
Word Power*
Directions: Choose the most appropriate meaning of the highlighted
word
based on how it is used in the sentence. Encircle the letter that
represents your
choice.
1. The educational party to which he belongs does not have much leverage
in
terms of educational reform.
a. Level-headedness
c. freedom to change
b. Power to influence
d. scheme to socialize

2. School policies regulate the parameters in grading and failing students.

a. Conditions that arise from certain problematic situations.
b. Limits or boundaries of a particular process or activity
c. Measurements taken to ensure that all sides remain equal
d. The area surrounding a property of which it is a part

3. Due to the archipelagic form of the land, Filipinos cannot achieve

homogeneity in terms of culture.
a. To be of the same gender
c. to be bilingual
b. To be culturally complex
 d. to be of the same kind

4. The parents were shocked to discover that the school principal had an
astonishing lack of discernment.
a. Ability to judge well
c. the capacity to visualize
b. Responsibility for decisions
d. the experience
5. Few students now possess the tenacity to pursue their particular goals.
a. Frugality in spending money
b. Ability to save money
c. persistence in a course of action
b. Ability to save money
d. total hardships which a person has undergone

*Send your answers to these questions as a private message via Messenger.

Study Guide Questions*

1. Why is a college education important to Filipinos? What role does it
play in terms of succeeding in a profession?
Ans/ as the world is changing so fast, children are not expected to stop schooling after
high school. Moving forward in college will be the next level which will open some
opportunities of improving his life in his career and helping people. College is a field of
specialization in something while high school is almost general education; so, it help our
community to improve better in academic, social, physical, and spiritual life. In college
we will meet different people from different culture, religion, etc. so that where we will
learn how to socialize.

2. Is college only for the intellectually-gifted?

Ans/ everyone can go to college. The most thing which let people
become mere successful is when they have compassion and
motivation. Nothing is easy or difficult for everyone if you like it and
you are willing to do it.

3. How could a strong sense of self-discipline help one succeed in college life?
Give some examples.
Ans/ as the success comes from motivation and compassion, the self-discipline will help in
the success of college when you do not do what you want but what is necessary. For
example, going out every day with your friend instead of being focused on your dream,
having plenty of series to watch all the time, take you course as the difficult field… none
will give the motivation, if I like something and willing to do it I can make a difference.

4. What reasons for failure in college life are given in the selection? What
suggestions are given to safeguard against these?
Ans/ most reason for failure specially in college appear mostly when
the student comes from high school behaving childish, also when
they don’t prioritize studies like going to mall for unnecessary
reason or playing game, even watching movies all the time

*Copy these questions and answer. Save your work in a Word document or pdf file and send it to
me via Messenger or email @ [email protected]

Pair Work
Directions: Find a pair from the class to work with and collaborate with
online. Create an artwork in a form of a collage, painting, drawing or any
visual representation that contrasts practices which can either make or
break your chances of achieving college success. Explain your output in
class.