Comparison Essay

High school and college are both two of life's most joyous and frustrating journeys through life. Any individual intelligent enough to pursue further education will notice some differences and similarities. High school and college are similar in many ways to each in terms of the rules and morals that govern them. It would be foolish for anyone to mistake the students' lifestyle being the same in college. College and high school, although similar in some ways, differ immensely from each other.
In high school students are demanded to come to school every day on time and be prepared. In College the student is pretty much welcome to come as he pleases from day to day. To some it's very ironic that many high schools will suspend a student from school if he or she does not show up for school. The disciplinary structure is quite different in college. A student that neglects to show up for school in college will not be punished by the administration in such a conflicted manner. Those students that mess around and don't show up for class are simply allowed to dig their own grave. This is one area many students find different and unwelcome in some cases, about colleges across the country. One thing that many high schools share with colleges across the US is the

almost total lack of classes that offer hands on experience. Even Fewer of those

classes offer an environment even closely resembling the environment the

student will encounter in the work place. Both education mediums generally do have some type of vocational program and many colleges do offer internships in the industrial arts and/or medical fields, unfortunately the degrees you can receive from these types of courses are still very limited in terms of usefulness to the professional student. Simply put in high school and college hands on experience takes a back seat to general education, although many colleges do a moderately effective job trying to bridge the cap depending on the college.
In terms of the students work load college and high school are worlds apart. In twelfth grade English classes in Indiana the trend seems to be one essay and one week of grammar every trimester. In college the average student workload for a similar English class, should expect to compose an essay every week and grammar home work every day. In high school as long as the student had a good grasp of reading comprehension and turned in a few Q/A sheets every week, In most cases the student would be at the top of his class. College changes that if the student fell asleep during grammar week in high school he or she will not be able to just brush it off like it isn't a thing in college. In college they actually try to prepare the students for the real world. Whereas in high school the administrators just want to push that same student out the door as quickly as possible, and with as little energy spent doing it. In short college is a learning environment high school is an assemble line. In my opinion the greatest thing about college, isn't college itself, it's the fact that the students are adults. Being adults the students are free to dictate every aspect of their lives. The pampering go go ga ga effects of elementary and high school education is gone. That is what is so special about college the student has the freedom to succeed or to fail miserably. Many do fail does it mean they weren't smart enough? No it just means for whatever reason be it laziness, money issues and/or emotional problems they didn't finish. Anyone can succeed in college, but not all students are meant to be doctors each student must be able to figure out what their strengths are before they decide what profession to pursue.