Jacquie Carson, director of the NewBridge retirement community, claims that one of the attractive features of her community is that its tenants “still get to make poor choices for themselves if they choose” (135).
Can you imagine a circumstance in which giving someone the freedom to “make poor choices” is less important than keeping them from harming themselves or others?
Should college give students more freedom to “make poor choices”?
Do you think of yourself as someone who often makes poor choices?
Should college give students more freedom to “make poor choices”?
Do you think of yourself as someone who often makes poor choices?
I think the ability to make poor choices leads to making good choices later on. For example, if Suzy has a medication that helps her stay awake, and she does not take it and therefore sleeps through something important, she will have that experience to influence her decision to take the medicine. Then she isn’t taking it because the doctor said so or the nurse threatened her, but because she knows it is what she needs. And she will also know if she is willing to pay those consequences again, and if she is, she is free to do so.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to college students, I don’t think the freedom is not there. We are free to do whatever we wish, however, we must still pay the consequences. If we don’t do a paper and our grades drop, saving the grade or retaking the class isn’t fun, but that experience will motivate us to do our work later on. And if we know that our grade may suffer, but we are willing to do the work later on, then sometimes a paper or to may not be as flawless as possible, but in the long run, we are where we want to be.
“Poor decisions” get made, that’s life, it’s how we deal with the consequences that really matters.
I do not think I make poor decisions often, but I do know when I make them, I usually regret them and try to learn from them so they don’t happen again. However, this is not always the case.
I agree with Ashley. As children we are often guided by our parents not to do certain things, but we want to do them anyway because we do not necessarily know the consequences. Sometimes the best way to learn to make better decisions is to have the freedom to make your own choices and learn from the consequences instead of being told what to do, which can seem frustrating, especially when a person is old enough to live on his or her own. Having an actual experience through a decision can be a much more powerful learning tool than simply being ordered not to do something.
ReplyDeleteIn college, I think students have enough freedom to make poor choices if they choose. Parents are usually no longer present everyday, and students can choose whether to attend class, finish assignments, study and whether or not to make good choices in their behavior and conduct. I think it is important to correct a child, to help explain to him or her why they should not do something, but once adulthood is reached, a person should be able to use his or her own judgement.
As imperfect human beings, we all make mistakes. Making the best choices usually comes with experience through learning about what not to do in certain situations.
When it comes to law, individual views can be (over-)simplified down to a priority on three values: order, freedom, and equality. In this instance, two of these are applied. Is it more important to have the freedom to make poor choices or the order that keeps those poor choices from negatively affecting others? There are many laws in place that value order over freedom. One that immediately comes to mind is drunk driving. According to CDC.gov, in 2013 alone, over 10,000 people were killed in drunk driving accidents. Imagine how many more incidents there would be if driving drunk was legal. Obviously, this is an extreme case, but it shows the ramifications that some bad choices can make one not only oneself but on others. Should drunk people be given the freedom to “make poor choices”? Legally, no.
ReplyDeleteI’m of the belief that one should be able to do whatever he wishes as long as it is not to the detriment of others. Smoke weed instead of studying the night before your finals? Go ahead. Go through a pack of cigarettes during the test to calm your nerves? Yeah, not a great idea. Though both would be considered by most as poor choices, the latter not only harms the smoker, but those in the classroom around him as well. This is where I draw the line between freedom and order, and, yes, I do think college students should have more freedom to make poor choices—given that these poor choices won’t harm others.
Source for the drunk driving fact: http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
-Madi C.
I agree with you Madison. There seems to be so much poor choices we can make in college and high school. The opportunity is always there. I believe that we as students already are free to make whatever decisions we want. There are times that we may feel like emotional eating or binge eating is the relaxing choice that solve our problems but in reality we know it will not but instead harms us - poor choice. I consider freedom of choice higher than safety because isn't life greater than just staying out of harms way. People nowadays think too much about safety but not enough about enjoying life and being able to be as independent as possible. People want to feel lively and spontaneous not contained in a room waiting to follow through the same scheduled routine day in and out. And lastly I do not think that I make poor choices but I do make plenty of mistakes. But like a old wise person once said, "mistakes and failures are the best ways to understand ourselves and others- knowing that we are not perfect." We strive for excellence and we attempt to make the right choices in life.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is very important to have the opportunity to make one's own mistakes, but this freedom may be taken away in dire situations. For example, it is an American's right to bear arms, but this does not give an American the right to harm themselves or others with such a weapon. With this being said, yes, it is essential that colleges allow their students to make poor life choices. The choices students make and how they react to them are what will influence the student's integrity and character.
ReplyDeleteI do see myself as a poor decision maker in some aspects of life. I am admittedly, a procrastinator. I am a student that needs to establish a stronger worth ethic in college so that I can become a better student. The fact that I have been allowed to make my own poor choices in the past (such as not studying for a trigonometry test when I still had not quite grasped the material) has allowed me to learn from my mistakes. These mistakes have motivated me to become a stronger student. This process is key for allowing each person to become a better individual.
I think that everyone should have the ability to make at least some poor choices. Without it, no one would be able to learn from mistakes. For example, if a parent never lets their kid stay up late, then when the child is on their own, they may stay up all night just to exercise some freedom. They do this having no idea the consequences that result. Overall, I think colleges should act with the students' best interests in mind, but not so much as to regulate every aspect of the students' lives. What I mean is yes, provide food for the students, but don't follow them around and force them to go to the eat. If the student chooses not to eat, that's their fault and if they come to regret skipping that meal, then they won't do so in the future. They learned from it, which can't happen without the freedom to make those poor choices.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Kramer
If it hasn't become obvious by my other responses, I am a strong proponent of personal freedom. That being said, I think everybody has the right t make whatever choices they feel like, so long as they aren't a danger to society, and to a lesser extent, themselves. I can't say that I feel like I make poor choices frequently, but if someone tried to obstruct my decision making, it would be rather upsetting. Like many others here have stated, the making of poor choices is critical to our growth and development, and we do learn from our mistakes. Even if others warn against poor choices, we humans tend to prefer to see for ourselves. We prefer to have the firsthand experience. Often times it is much less painful for all parties involved to simply allow the choice to be made and await the outcome.
ReplyDelete