Choosing College By George Robbins Summary

In the passage, a senior boy expressed his feelings about choosing colleges. Truthfully, he described that the well-known colleges would be better choices simply due to the fact that other people had heard of it. In this situation, the boy was making his decisions based on his peer’s beliefs. By sharing this story, Robbins demonstrates that numerous people, not just limited to students, make decisions based on other perspectives. I disagree with the idea that outside influences should sway people’s decisions. People should rely on their own opinion to make their choices due to the fact that other influences may not be trustworthy or reliable; other influences may have their own best interest in mind, not the best interest of the person; and
While some people may genuinely try to help others, the majority of people have their own self-interest in mind, and they might attempt to influence others’ decisions to further these interests. An example of this is student loan scams. According to CBS, student loan scammers collected nearly 100 million of dollars in illegal fees. These scammers told the students that their company would reduce student debt in order to lessen the burden in the future, and they claimed to be associated with the government. Their persuasion convinced students to take out loans from these companies, and they would quickly thereafter charge high premiums and unwarranted fees, which all went into the companies’ wallets. These companies promised that they were helping to give money back to the students, but in reality they were embezzling funds from the students. From the perspective of a newcomer, it appeared that the loans would be in the best interests of the students, but in reality the loans were in the best interest of the companies. The companies shown here demonstrate that outside sources can have their own self-interest in mind and will try to persuade others in any way possible to advance
The importance of accountability for our decisions is notably relevant for children. Parents’ decisions control their children’s lives when they are young. With good intentions, these parents make decisions for their children in hopes of improving their children’s future. However, this option might not be the most beneficial for their children. Huffington Post argues, when parents limit their guidance and allow their children to make their own decisions, it’s positive. At this point, protective parents might interject saying that if a child were to make their own decisions, then they would make unfortunate decisions. According to the Dr. Taylor, this is precisely what needs to happen. When children make decisions for themselves, he argues they will make unfortunate choices, which is inevitable. When children make unfortunate choices, they are able to feel directly responsible for the consequence. When they feel accountable for the negative consequence, they won’t make that decision in the future anymore. This helps the child grow as a person and learn from past failures (Taylor). In this scenario, it is evident that allowing people, predominantly children, to make their own decisions without outside influences will create accountability for them, which will teach them to make better decisions