Leaving Home for College: Expectations for Selective Reconstruction of Self

In this article the author’s goal were to analyze the perspectives of 23 upper-middle-class high school students as they move through the college application process and contemplate leaving home. While the students in this study viewed college as a place to develop skills and knowledge to become self-supporting adults, they also viewed it as a place to find their “true” identity, or simply changing a few things about themselves. This article relates the turning point of attending college to marriage, having children, etc.
The students in this study viewed the meaning attending college as finding who they are, starting over, becoming adults, gaining independence, beginning a new life, entering the “next stage. ” All of the students were stressing more on the personal changes in identity and their opinion on themselves more than the actual move to college. It’s a mind over matter issue. Along with finding their true identity, the college bound seniors in this study viewed attending college as a time to create the person they want to be.
They view their upcoming experience as a chance to edit or revise certain parts of their “biographies. ” Also wondering if their families will miss them, if they will no longer play the role they once did before moving away for college. The students in this study were all upper middle class students. They come from families that are well off, successful parents. Most of them knew they were going to college because that’s the thought their parents engraved in their heads therefore they never questioned the idea.

Other students just want to keep their social class, coming from a well off family; they themselves also want to be set for their futures. The chapter book that relates to this article, states that academic achievement varies by social class. Basically meaning the more money your family has, the higher chance you have in attending college. That is true in most cases. Just as mentioned above, most of the students in this study wanted to carry their social class, and others were going because their parents went.
Also, being raised in a low-income family doesn’t predict academic failure. The choice of attending college is mostly up to the person not their background. Many students undergo different experiences in college. Their journey never goes as expected. Along with many experiences are changes. The experience of college changes a lot of students, sometime for the better, others for the worse. It depends wholly on the change the student wants to bring upon their life.