前言：这篇作文，是今年三月份放寒假时，我嘱咐儿子写后交给我的命题作文。因为那个时候，正好是他上大学后第一个学期结束，作为应届高中毕业生走进大学，各个方面对他来说，都是一个全新的生活面貌。儿子并未推辞，不到半个小时的时间，就把作文完成呈上。我读了之后，与儿子有交谈，主要是他在文章中提到要改专业这个问题。因为这是他从未告诉我的新事。在我看来，儿子一直喜欢物理，虽然进入大学后，学这个专业的同学基本上以犹太人为主，还有少数中国人和印度人在学习，可见学习的难度很高。当然，儿子最终还是继续物理专业的学习，没有改变专业。可见，在孩子的成长过程中，必须多花时间让孩子去思考，最后作决定自己需要什么，什么东西最适合自己。

很惭愧，这篇作文因为种种原因没有被我放进博客，主要是我怕麻烦翻译。他写的实在太长了，而我又那么懒惰。但是，今天我把这篇文章的英文原文先放在这里，随后无论如何，哪怕不吃不喝不睡觉，我也抽时间把它翻译出来。不辜负大家期望。

最近几天，有些事情在困扰我，所以我写搏的热情也渐渐疏懒。希望过了这阵子，我会重拾热情，继续在我的园地里耕耘。

 Why we should go to college

“我们为什么要上大学”

written by Kevin Chen

March 7,2012

  Hi my name is Kevin Chen and I am currently a freshman at the University of California at Berkeley. 

  Throughout my first semester at Berkeley, I was able to learn a lot about myself and convictions, how to handle myself, and especially about the nature of others. I do believe that everyone should have the opportunity to attend a college, preferably a college where they can be away from their parents and live on their own for an extended period of time.

  College is a time and place where your son’s or daughter’s horizon of thinking is greatly broadened. No longer are they constrained to the same thoughts, styles, and lifestyles that have remained basically ubiquitous throughout their twelve years in grade school.

   The first time one enters college, he meets a whole bunch of people from around the country, especially if he attends a big name school. I have the gracious opportunity to attend one of the top schools in the nation, so naturally people from all corners of the Earth to come and learn. We have students from all over including places like Texas, the East Coast, Southern California, China, India, Europe, and Africa to name a few. 

  The diversity that a campus of this status has makes way for a whole new and dynamic way of thought that your child will have to learn. Now he will not hear the same things he has heard for the first twelve years in grade school; he now hears completely new perspectives, viewpoints, and opinions on topics that he never thought he would have to consider. 

  By going to a college, especially a large public university, your child will be introduced to many different opinions that will shape and mold his way of thinking to be more open minded about things he’s never heard and even challenge the things that he felt formerly convicted by.

   For example, I am strongly convicted Christian, but after going to Berkeley, I experienced the full blow of its liberal atmosphere. My Christian convictions were challenged and I had to look for answers. Questions that I have never even considered in the past arose, which forced me to find answers to the convictions I had. As I searched, I gradually found more answers, leading to an even stronger faith.

Furthermore, going to college has changed my outlook on even my major. I entered college pretty confident that I was going to major in physics. As college life kept going, however, I felt my physics skills dwindling and my leadership skills increase. I have come to learn that I can be a very aggressive leader and efficient person. Even though I greatly enjoy physics and its problem solving, I discovered that I enjoy leading people even more. So now I am considering switching my major from physics into operational research and management.

Secondly, college is a time to get away from our parents. It seems like especially for today’s younger generation, the kids are raised in a much easier atmosphere. Sure, schoolwork might be more difficult, but as for working multiple jobs and taking care of the house, the children rarely have to worry about that.

  For example, food is prepared for us day after day by our parents. We get picked up by our parents and get to drive our parent’s car and get to use our parent’s seemingly inexhaustible amount of money on clothing and other goods. When I first went to college, I had to forgo some of those blessings. 

  Although I am unrightfully more fortunate than others, I have had to learn how to budget my money better when in college and look for better alternatives to spend my money more wisely. Many of us are also pushed by our parents to do well academically. Some students at in college, even in Berkeley, struggle to make even a passing grade (a C letter grade) because they begin procrastinating. Without their parents at their side, their lazy and foolish side emerge, causing them to slack off and do meaningless things, like party, instead of working towards the main reason why they’re at college: to get a valuable (literally $24,000/yr) education. Finally, time has to be budgeted.

   Any college student can tell you that the days fly by very quickly, that we jump from appointment to appointment without really slowing down. College has taught me to enjoy my alone time and put aside time to just vegetate a little, relax, read, and spend time away from family and friends. After attending college, one will quickly discover that 24 hours in a day is not enough.

  Lastly, when students go to college and leave the comfort of their private room, there’s one thing that all students at first look forward to: their roommates. When students go to college, they often take the dorms, which include sharing a room with one or two other people, or the apartment alternative, which also have people living under the same roof as them. One of the most difficult things in college is to be around people all the time. 

  For me personally, socializing can be extremely tiring; that’s why I need my alone time. Often living under in one place with new and unfamiliar people their age, students begin seeing sides of themselves that they never thought would come out. For example, I used to be very extraverted before I went to college. However, after attending college, I realized that I love my alone time and I wish to be alone a lot more than I used to.

  College is definitely a great experience for the growing young man or woman. It allows the person to come to an understanding of himself, realize what he needs to improve such as money management, and how to interact with other people. 

  I think college is an opportunity that no young adult should forgo, as it is a great intermediate period between grade school and the working life. Not only will it prepare students academically, but there will also be great experiences that are going to be priceless in the students’ success and wisdom. 

 one man's dream