Many parents of high school graduates face the question: should they send their child to study in big cities at universities? Many fear that their children won’t resist the temptations of the metropolis, will associate with the wrong crowd, and become drug addicts, alcoholics, and hooligans.
In such cases, I always recall my student life.
I enrolled in the capital’s state university, coming from the provinces. I lived in a dormitory in a student town with several thousand similarly clueless young men and women from all over Kazakhstan.
We were practically left to our own devices. Indeed, amidst this diverse mix, there were many different characters. There were bad crowds, alcoholics, drug addicts, and hooligans.
But there were very few such people.
The absolute majority of students, after going through the school of survival, communication, and adaptation to each other in student towns, eventually turned into educated, cultured, intelligent individuals.
Why is it that some in our student environment sank to the bottom while others achieved brilliant results?
I think it’s quite obvious that the matter lies not in the student dormitory or the metropolis itself. It’s much simpler and deeper. The fate of a student was essentially decided not in the dormitory but much earlier, in their childhood, in their native family, where their character was formed.
If a young person is raised correctly, and parents instill the right values in them, then no dormitory will change their character. Good guys intuitively gravitate towards each other and form good company. Bad guys naturally gather in bad company. So a good guy will never end up in bad company.
If parents think that their child is good but just fell under a bad influence, then they probably don’t know their child well.
Freedom doesn’t change a person’s character. It only liberates them and allows their true essence to emerge.
A good person in a student dormitory won’t turn into a bad person; they’ll only become better. And a bad person won’t turn into a good person; in a dormitory, they’ll only become worse.
So my advice to all parents of graduates: if you are confident that you’ve raised your child right, then confidently send them to big cities and even abroad.
If you’re not sure about your child and think they’re weak and can fall under bad influence, then I’m afraid you won’t save them even at home. Such a person will find bad company even in their yard.
So the question isn’t “I’m afraid to send my child to the big city because it will corrupt them,” but rather “I’ve raised my child poorly, and that’s why I’m afraid for them.”
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