Deal Breakers

      Graduating high school and transitioning to college can be very difficult for most. The biggest difference between high school and college is in college you have the option to withdrawal from any class you are in. For me there are two main reasons that seal the deal on whether or not I will succeed in a class or withdrawal. When I first came into college I was not as focused as I should have been. Instead of focusing on my priorities I was enjoying the freedom of being in college. During my first semester in college it was not long before my teacher dropped me from the class. He decided to drop me because I had too many absences. This was a rude awakening for me because I did not see it coming even though I should have. Even though my transcripts suffered from this in return I learned my lesson. After that semester I realized even though I had more freedom in college, with that comes greater responsibilities. The lesson I learned was that if I planned on succeeding in college I had to remain focused on my classwork and not be lazy. This was one of the toughest lessons I had to learn in college because I had nobody to blame but myself.
        The second reason I will decide to withdrawal from a class depends on my teacher. I find a hard time succeeding in classes that are not engaging. I have had many teachers who sound like voice recordings playing over and over everyday. When I feel disengaged from the classroom my motivation to do work goes downhill. Many teachers who do not interact much with their students distance themselves from the class. This can cause a student to get distracted very easily. Often times when teachers are not engaged with the class it sends out a vibe that the teacher could careless about their students. In the end I feel it is not necessarily the teachers job to motivate students to do their work but successful ones do. When a teacher sends the message that they do not care about their students I feel more inclined to drop the class. The reason for this is because in that type of environment I know it is difficult for me to succeed. Even though having a bad teacher is a good reason to drop a class many students decide to stick it out anyway. One of the hardest parts about community colleges and especially Chabot is getting into classes. This is why even though a teacher may be difficult to work with sometimes the student will remain in the class. Waiting on a class with a good teacher can often be unrealistic being that classes get full quick.