College with curfews and no drinking?

In approximately nine weeks I will officially be a college graduate… It’s almost too good to be true, and extremely exciting. College is what you make of it, and there is just as much learning done outside the classroom as there is inside. We learn about ourselves as we begin to take on this new journey of life. New experiences introduce themselves and we make tons of mistakes along the way. The important thing to note is that we are allowed to make our own decisions and break away from our homes and our parents. We no longer have curfews, rules, or bedtimes. We are allowed to drink every night of the week, skip classes, and sleep over in a boys room if we choose.

I feel that it is extremely important to be able to have those experiences, make those mistakes, and grow in an environment where we can learn about ourselves. Luckily I had that opportunity attending Ball State University, but I have found that not everyone goes to such liberal colleges. I understand those who want to attend private colleges for religious reasons, but I do not agree with those colleges choice to treat their paying customers, who are adults, like children.

My boyfriends younger siblings attend a Christian University, and their rules are rather strict. They have 12am curfews on weeknights and 1 am on weekends… my Universities library closes at 3 am on weeknights… No one of the opposite sex is allowed in their dorm rooms, so definitely no overnight guests. and on top of all that the campus of this school is located in a dry county, there is no alcohol sold anywhere near the school.

Not to incriminate myself but I spent the first three mornings in my dorm hung over a trashcan nursing a hangover from hell.  I feel that a large part of college culture is to go to parties to drink then wake up and go to your classes tired and hungover. Now that I am a bit older I do not enjoy drinking or partying, especially on school nights, but I was able to make that choice myself, no one made it for me! At a school like the one my future brother and sister in law go to are not allowing their students much free will.

I could never imagine going to a college where they monitor me like a child. If I wanted to be told what to do and have a watchful eye over me at all times I would have stayed home and went to community college. I understand that the college life is not ideal for everyone to experience, but it should definitely be something where one can make their own choices. If a school holds all these strict standards how will students be able to learn from their mistakes. My University has alternative events to keep kids from drinking, and they offer information for safe sex practices; in other word they make sure to provide good environments for those who choose to participate. Besides events to keep students from drinking they understand we are going to go to parties, hook up, and feel poorly about it later. Because they know we will screw up and make our own decisions  they provide free HIV testing and condoms so we can be safe when we go make our mistakes.

It is important that colleges inform us about what is out there, but they shouldn’t forcibly keep us away. I truly believe that if we want to learn from something that we have to make our own mistakes, we cannot just take someone else's word for it. I realize that not everyone shares my view, but I wouldn’t change my college experience for a place that treats me like a high schooler.