Teacher, why do I have to study?” This is a common question that my student asks me. (I am a personal tutor currently.) “If you do not study hard, you will not go to university,” I say. Then my student asks, “Why do I have to go to university?” “To get more knowledge,” I reply.

Again he makes a plea, “I have plenty of places where I can learn many things even if I do not go to university.” I often get confused when I am asked this question. How can I give a brisk answer to the question? In fact, I do not know the right answer. Why do I study?

So, I would like to ask all of you, too. Why do you study? For what reason did you enter university? There are many probable answers. Some of you might like learning itself, others go to university just because they follow what everyone else normally does. Others enter college just for fun or to get a good job. Most students chose one of these answers.

However, there is another reason for studying in an institution for advanced learning. University is a quasi society. If we graduate from high school and work in an office right away, how difficult it will be.

We only study in the classroom during the high school days and do not learn the true picture of life in our society and how to develop good relationships with others. It is at university that we can experience many things and prepare for the future.

The original purpose of university is to study hard but at the same time, we can have plenty of useful experiences here as well. We meet diverse kinds of people and learn many things we did not know before.
Meanwhile, it is a worrisome situation that university is simply turning into a place to prepare for our future job.

Getting a job is a really hard thing these days but universities were not built to be private job preparation institutes. Rather, it has to be a place where students can study, play, make friends, and experience a lot of things.

Four years of your life on campus is not so long but also, not so short. It depends on how you use your time. Another semester has already started. I do not know how you spent your summer vacation.
However, before you finish reading this article, I hope you might reflect on your goals for university and make plans for the upcoming semester.
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