5 things college will teach you (& a correspondence course won't)

College has either begun or is about to begin for students all over India.

For the average student, college is hell, and for the exceptionally talented college is nothing but a waste of time.

It is at such moments that the temptation of distance education beckons.

It is supposed to be free learning, a space to follow your own dreams.

Despite its obvious benefits, distance education isn't as glamorous as it’s made out to be.

Here are five things that college will teach you, which distance education cannot:

I. Following a routine:-

When college comes around with its 7 am reporting time, we must put aside all that is sacred to us and head out to face the monster that has haunted students for generations -- attendance!

Not only does that force one to drag one's bottom to college but to also shuffle it from class to class.

College is to lazy young people what military school is to... erm... lazy young people (except that college doesn't have sweaty, hunky guys).

Colleges teaches you to be punctual and to follow a schedule, instilling a sense of discipline in you which distance education probably couldn't.

II. Managing your money:-

You have Rs 1000 to spend over a period of 30 days in the month of June.

You spend Rs 500 on your monthly train pass on the first day and spend a total of Rs 10 on a shared rickshaw, to and from the station, every day.

Keeping the above expenses in mind, how much do you save at the end of the month?

III.Dealing with authority:-

While sticking it to The Man might be a lovely idea, it is not quite as harmless as wearing Che Guevara T-Shirts and mistaking the Argentine revolutionary for 'that guy from Desperado'.

Try standing up to a teacher who tells you that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder.

IV. Resisting peer pressure:-

There comes a time in every person's life when their will is tested by God/Keanu Reeves/pizza and they must make a choice about whether they wish to give in, or strive on in the face of adversity.

Adversity means different things to different people.

To me, it is a skipping rope and the knowledge that five sets later, I'll be lying on the floor, clutching my calves and crying for my mommy.

To you, it may mean standing outside your hangout spot, with your gang, and resisting the cigarettes offered to you.

It is extremely easy to get swept away in the heat of the moment and do what everyone else is doing, just to feel like you belong - and throughout your time at college, you will be given a number of opportunities to do this.

It is the path that you choose to take when under pressure that will define you.

Most of us go from 1st to 12th grade looking at the same faces, following the same social rules.

It is only when you get to college and you find yourself standing among a million different people that you realise who you truly are.

Its a lot easier to find yourself when you're lost; and peer pressure will come, undoubtedly, and it will tempt you to the safe confines of a clique in exchange for following the lead and doing things you may not be comfortable with.

But when you resist, as I hope you will, you will find yourself to be a lot stronger than you initially thought.

Peer pressure won't end here.

There will always be a cousin (or four) at a wedding who will want to do 'Tokyo drift' with the guests' cars or a colleague who will offer you a 'medical remedy' to fix your glaucoma, but college will be a preparatory phase.

Distance education may sound really cool but college will teach you the most important word in the dictionary -- "No!"

V. Running the race:-

Knowing that kids in China will do your job at three times the speed and 1/3rd the pay at which you do it will never manage to raise the alarm bells in the way that your friend getting more marks than you will.

It isn't just about marks either.

There are clubs to head, festivals to organise and internships to bag if one is to build a decent resume.